Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Q Research AUSTRALIA #34: UNITED AGAINST THE INVISIBLE ENEMY OF ALL HUMANITY Edition Dec. 18, 2023, 1:40 a.m. No.20092798   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Welcome To Q Research AUSTRALIA

 

A new thread for research and discussion of Australia's role in The Great Awakening.

 

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>>19822242 Q Research AUSTRALIA #33

 

Q's Posts made on Q Research AUSTRALIA threads

Wednesday 11.20.2019

>>7358352 ————————————–——– These people are stupid.

>>7358338 ————————————–——– All assets [F + D] being deployed.

>>7358318 ————————————–——– What happens when the PUBLIC discovers the TRUTH [magnitude] re: [D] party corruption?

 

Tuesday 11.19.2019

>>7357790 ————————————–——– FISA goes both ways.

 

Saturday 11.16.2019

>>7356270 ————————————–——– There is no escaping God.

>>7356265 ————————————–——– The Harvest [crop] has been prepared and soon will be delivered to the public for consumption.

 

Friday 11.15.2019

>>7356017 ————————————–——– "Whistle Blower Traps" [Mar 4 2018] 'Trap' keyword select provided…..

 

Thursday 03.28.2019

>>5945210 ————————————–——– Sometimes our 'sniffer' picks and pulls w/o applying credit file

>>5945074 ————————————–——– We LOVE you!

>>5944970 ————————————–——– USA v. LifeLog?

>>5944908 ————————————–——– It is an embarrassment to our Nation!

>>5944859 ————————————–——– 'Knowingly'

 

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Q's Posts referencing Australian citizens

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Virginia Roberts Giuffre

American-Australian survivor of the sex trafficking ring operated by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

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Q's Posts referencing The Five Eyes intelligence alliance (FVEY)

An anglophone intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States

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"Does AUS stand w/ the US or only select divisions within the US?"

Q

Nov 25 2018

https://qanon.pub/#2501

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:41 a.m. No.20092800   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Notables

are not endorsements

 

#33 - Part 1

Israel / Hamas Conflict - The Australian Perspective - Part 1

>>19822804 Tony Burke blasted on ‘appalling’ stance on Israel - Labor’s split on Israel has widened as cabinet minister Tony Burke refused to repudiate suggestions of “genocide” against Palestinians, and members of the party’s Right faction condemned the downplaying of the Hamas “acts of evil”

>>19822817 Muslim leaders frustrated by UN vote as Labor tensions rise over Burke comments

>>19822833 ABC management praised Tom Joyner’s Israel reporting before David Anderson apologised for his ‘bullshit’ remarks

>>19822842 Thousands protest across Sydney and Melbourne in support of Palestine, Israel

>>19829240 Former prime ministers join to condemn Hamas, urge Israel to protect civilian lives

>>19829263 Paul Keating declines to sign former Prime Ministers' joint statement supporting Israel and condemning Hamas

>>19829284 Foreign Minister Penny Wong : No deal for Australians stuck in Gaza

>>19829303 Foreign Minister Penny Wong says 'Australians in Lebanon should leave now' as Israel-Hamas conflict appears set to spread

>>19841315 Israel-Gaza war: anti-Semitism creating ‘palpable fear’ in Victorian Jewish community

>>19841325 Convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika wins High Court bid to restore his Australian citizenship

>>19847316 Video: Men attempt to disrupt Israel hostage memorial at Bondi Beach

>>19853465 Video: Police fine men who tear down Israeli hostages memorial in Bondi

>>19853494 Israel hostage posters torn down by North Sydney Council

>>19859513 Video: Pro-Palestine protesters try to storm Anthony Albanese’s dinner ahead of China visit

 

>>19864146 Crisis of courage in the face of unspeakable Hamas barbarism - "Seventy-five years after we promised the Jewish world never again, on Monday the Israeli ambassador to the UN wore a Star of David on his jacket while addressing the Security Council with fire in his belly and truth on his tongue. The same weak-kneed, complicit and hypocritical UN that last May appointed Iran to chair this week’s Human Rights Council Social Forum. We are witnessing the most sickening outbreak of anti-Semitism around the globe in generations. A flight from Israel lands in the Russian republic of Dagestan and is overrun by savages “looking for the Jews”, and not to offer them post-flight refreshments either. Looking to murder them simply for being Jewish. Throughout Europe, the homes of Jews are being marked with a Star of David. Australia has become known for chants of “Gas the Jews” and burning Israeli flags, a violent scene set against a stunning night-time view of the Sydney Opera House. It has been an instructive, terrible, fraught, critical month since October 7. Illuminating, in the sense that so many have declared their hand via sins of omission and commission. I’d never have believed the level of anti-Semitism I’ve witnessed in Australia this past month. I’d never have believed there’d come a day when we had to remind people of how the Holocaust happened. I always wondered how. Now we know." - Gemma Tognini - theaustralian.com.au

>>19864189 Sydney MPs, Jewish leaders condemn ‘grotesque’ Hitler posters

>>19864215 Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson fly into Israel

>>19869261 Video: Don’t be ‘suckered’ by Gaza ceasefire call: Scott Morrison

>>19869297 OPINION: To say ‘never again’ means standing with Israel in its darkest hour - "The unprovoked terrorist attack by Iranian-backed Hamas was pure evil, inflicting atrocities on innocent Israeli infants, children, women, young people and the elderly. I know I no longer speak for Australia and nor do I pretend to. However, for all those Australians who wish to declare their support for Israel and the Jewish people, I am happy, through the opportunity of this visit, to carry and convey that message on your ­behalf. The visit to Israel is also an opportunity to reinforce our deep concern for the welfare of innocents caught up in this awful conflict, Palestinian and Jewish alike. This includes continuing to encourage Israel, as it seeks to root out Hamas, to do so in a way that protects innocent civilians and enables humanitarian relief. It is also another opportunity to demand the unconditional release of hostages and provide some comfort and support to their families. In a world bedevilled by insecurity, we must pay special ­attention to the company we choose to keep. Our first priority must be to stand with our friends, especially when they are under ­attack. That is why I am pleased to have this opportunity to visit Israel at this time and unambiguously and instinctively stand with Israel, Believing in “never again”, ­demands nothing less." - Scott Morrison, Australia’s 30th prime minister from 2018 to 2022 - theaustralian.com.au

>>19869348 Video: Greens in Senate walkout over Albanese government’s Israel response

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:42 a.m. No.20092802   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 2

Israel / Hamas Conflict - The Australian Perspective - Part 2

>>19874500 Greens stoke hate and division with Palestine Senate stunt - "Greens leader Adam Bandt and deputy Mehreen Faruqi are playing cheap politics to wedge Labor and pick off inner-city progressive voters by weaponising tragic scenes in the Middle East sparked by murderous Hamas terrorists. The Greens, who will potentially hold the balance of power if Labor’s vote tanks in 2025, are seizing on divisions inside the Albanese government and international protests led by left-wing activists in tandem with Palestinian extremists who have one goal - the destruction of Israel. Fanning the flames of division amid ugly scenes of anti-­Semitism around the world and in Australia, the Greens conveniently whitewash Hamas ­terrorists murdering more than 1400 Israelis and taking hundreds more hostage in Gaza. The Greens, dominated by white, inner-city elitists, embrace any opportunity to undermine a Labor government struggling to strike a balance on the Israel-­Palestine conflict and the tragic loss of civilian life in Israel and Gaza. The contrived walkout by ­Faruqi and Greens senators in the upper house on Monday proved again that the left-wing party has no respect for ­Australia’s parliament nor its foreign policy." - Geoff Chambers - theaustralian.com.au

>>19885930 Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni slammed for radio comments on destruction of Israel

>>19885941 Merri-Bek Council in Melbourne to fly Palestinian flag for six months

>>19885947 Video: ‘Never have we felt the need for such a statement - until now’ - In his unexpected century on Earth, Abram Goldberg has endured the worst of humanity - and embraced its best. As one of Australia’s oldest Holocaust survivors, he has dedicated much of his long life to ­warning against the perils of ­hatred, “never again” becoming the mantra of his adulthood. “I witnessed the brutality of what anti-Semitism can be,” says Mr Goldberg, 99, an Auschwitz survivor whose entire family, bar his sister, were among the millions murdered by Nazi Germany. A new wave of anti-Semitism in Australia and overseas after the October 7 attack by Hamas in ­Israel has deeply disturbed many of the nation’s remaining Holocaust survivors, prompting more than 100 of them, including Mr Goldberg, to publish an ­unprecedented statement. Calling on Australians to denounce anti-Semitism and hatred, the 102 signatories warn of the consequences of a repeating history. As the last witnesses to the ­brutalities of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime, the elderly survivors write: “We are witnesses to the anti-Semitic propaganda that turned our friends, neighbours and the general public against us in Europe. We remember the six million Jewish lives lost because of this hatred.” - Fiona Harari - theaustralian.com.au

 

>>19892552 Lachlan Murdoch rallying call to condemn anti-Semitism

>>19892566 Penny Wong goes missing in action on Middle East - "Though it is hard to contemplate in the wake of the brutal terrorist attacks by Hamas of October 7, and the maelstrom of human tragedy engulfing Israel and Gaza, it may prove that the current Israel-Hamas war forms the last chapter in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. I know from my own conversations with key figures in Israel’s current war cabinet, including former generals Benny Gantz, Yoav Gallant and Gadi Eisenkot, that they recognise that improving the lives of the Palestinians living alongside them and providing them with a political horizon form an essential plank of Israel’s security. Setting the stage for this period of suffering to be succeeded by a more hopeful future is the task of diplomacy. This task is being led by the US, but it is one that Australia should be supporting. But almost alone among Israel’s friends, Australia’s Foreign Minister has not visited Israel since the October 7 terrorist attacks. In fact, in 18 months in office, Penny Wong has not once visited the Middle East. If we want to support a more hopeful future for both Israelis and Palestinians, and put Australia’s views on how this conflict should ultimately be resolved, then press conferences from Adelaide will not do the trick. Wong should be travelling to the Middle East and involving herself directly. That, after all, is the job of Australia’s chief diplomat." - Dave Sharma, ambassador to Israel from 2013 to 2017 and federal Liberal member for the seat of Wentworth from 2019 to 2022.

>>19892603 Aid organisation accused of funnelling Australian money to terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Gaza

>>19892620 Jewish bodies call for ABC Q&A panellist rethink amid Nasser Mashni furore

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:42 a.m. No.20092803   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 3

Israel / Hamas Conflict - The Australian Perspective - Part 3

>>19897282 Video: Palestinian-Israeli clashes turn violent in Melbourne’s Caulfield - Violent clashes between Palestinian and Israel supporters erupted on the streets of suburban Melbourne on Friday night, as local tensions from the Israel-Hamas war reached a flashpoint. Hundreds of pro-Palestinian supporters, chanting the controversial anti-Israeli slogan “From the river to the sea” ventured into Caulfield, the heart of Jewish Melbourne, to demonstrate. They were protesting the destruction by fire on Thursday night of a local burger shop in Caulfield called Burgertory. The store was owned by Palestinian Australian Hash Tahey who has been prominent in pro-Palestinian protests in Melbourne. Police quickly said they were “very confident” that the blaze was not racially or politically motivated but pro-Palestinian supporters labelled it an anti-Palestinian hate crime and called on supporters to gather on Hawthorn Road, just south of the burnt-out shop. The presence of several hundred protesters waving the Palestinian flag and chanting “Israel, USA, how many kids did you kill today” and “From the river to the sea”, which calls for Israel to be wiped off the map, was never going to end well in a heavily Jewish suburb such as Caulfield

>>19897307 Video: Victoria Police forced to use pepper spray in fight opposite Caulfield synagogue between Israel and Palestine supporters

>>19897432 Video: Police to step up patrols after violent protest near burnt-out Caulfield shop

>>19897509 Video: Clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups in Melbourne's south-east condemned

>>19897597 ‘No citizen is safe’ if tide not turned on rising anti-Semitism, says Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive of the country’s peak Jewish body, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry

 

>>19897838 Video: ‘Transporter of armaments’: Pro Palestine activists protest Israeli shipping line ZIM at Port Botany

>>19897867 Melbourne war memorial defaced with Palestine slogans on Remembrance Day - A war memorial in Melbourne has been defaced on Remembrance Day by anti-Israel graffiti calling for a “free Palestine” and a ceasefire in Gaza. The memorial in Montrose in Melbourne’s outer east was graffitied the night before Remembrance Day commemorations were held around the country. Locals woke up to the sight of their war memorial covered with graffiti including “Shame Israel, USA, UK Australia” as well as “Ceasefire now”, “Free Gaza”, “5000 dead kids’’, “free Palestine”, and “stop the genocide in Gaza”. The engraving on the memorial says it was “erected by the people of Montrose as a tribute to her gallant sons who took part in the Great War of 1914-1919” and lists the names of those who died in service

>>19903584 Thousands gather across Australia for Israel-Gaza war rallies - Separate events calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages are being held across Australia, with thousands taking to city streets. The events are the latest in a string of demonstrations since the beginning of the latest Israel-Gaza conflict on October 7. Thousands of people gathered at the steps of the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne for a pro-Palestinian rally before moving through the city towards Parliament. About 1,000 people held a vigil in Sydney for Israeli hostages, saying there could not be a ceasefire until all were released. The group sang while holding posters and waving Israeli flags, as well as flags from several other nationalities representing citizens that had also been kidnapped. President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Jillian Segal, told the crowd the war should continue until Hamas was destroyed. "There can be no ceasefire until every hostage has been released," Ms Segal said, as the crowd cheered in response

>>19903620 Video: Rallies held in Sydney and Melbourne amid ongoing Israel-Hamas war

>>19903641 Australia ‘pushing for ceasefire’ in Israel-Hamas conflict, reveals Penny Wong - Foreign Minister Penny Wong has revealed the Australian government is pushing for a ceasefire in the Middle East conflict, and has called on Israel to stop “the attacking of hospitals” while declaring that how the Jewish homeland defended itself was a matter of key concern

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:43 a.m. No.20092804   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 4

Israel / Hamas Conflict - The Australian Perspective - Part 4

>>19903654 Video: Wong calls on Israel to cease attacks on hospitals - Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called on Israel to halt attacks on hospitals in Gaza to avoid casualties among Palestinian civilians, stepping up Australian concerns over a widening conflict in the Middle East. Wong condemned Hamas for its terrorist attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 and its use of civilian facilities to shield its fighters, but said Israel should abide by humanitarian law that forbids attacks on medical centres. The Greens reacted to Wong’s remarks by saying she should have called much earlier for the protection of hospitals from Israeli attacks, but the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Zionist Federation of Australia criticised her comments and said the government should hold Hamas unequivocally responsible for the conflict

>>19907927 Palestine rallies condemned for Hitler, Nazi references

>>19907944 Video: Jewish leaders lash Penny Wong as Middle East ceasefire call condemned

>>19907951 Penny Wong’s ceasefire push alarms the nation’s Jewish community, raises new questions on Middle East policy

>>19907961 Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong and Labor must clarify their Israel-Gaza position urgently - "Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong and senior Labor ministers have to get their positions on the international security threat arising from the Hamas attacks on Israel and rising domestic threats from anti-Semitism straight and clear. What’s more, they have to do it immediately. Each day of doubt and confusion exponentially increases the fear within the Australian Jewish community, emboldens the racists and amplifies the hate speech. In Australia, the US and UK there have been anti-Semitic attacks and protests aimed at Jews, synagogues and businesses under the guise of equating the Israeli government and Jews. It is not anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government but it is anti-Semitic to attack Jews. Yet, like so many foreign policy issues where there should be prepared, confident and clear responses to obvious questions - whether on China, the Pacific or Israel - the Albanese government seems unprepared, hesitant and contradictory." - Dennis Shanahan - theaustralian.com.au

>>19907966 Chilling threat sent to Australia’s peak Jewish body: ‘We are coming for you’

>>19907977 How the Jewish heart of Caulfield became a Mid-East battleground

>>19907983 Government to strengthen unused section of the Crimes Act to prevent anti-Semitism

 

>>19907992 Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli urges Jewish support amid rise in anti-Semitism

>>19913621 Anthony Albanese refuses to endorse Penny Wong’s Gaza ceasefire call

>>19913631 Bill Shorten moves to edge Labor back from Penny Wong’s policy precipice over Israel-Hamas ceasefire

>>19913639 Wong’s attempts at nuance threaten to strand Australia in no man’s land - "Buffeted by gale-force winds to her political right and left, Penny Wong’s ability to navigate Australia through the tumultuous waters of Israel’s war with Hamas is being strained to the limit. The Israel-Hamas conflict is the ultimate high-risk, low-reward issue for Wong: Australia has little ability to influence events in the Middle East, but any slip-up in official language risks inflaming domestic tensions and inflicting political damage on the government." - Matthew Knott - theage.com.au

>>19913666 ‘Hatred’ on show: Melbourne Rabbi Shmuel Karnowsky lashes pro-Palestinian protesters, as additional police officers sent to St Kilda, Caulfield and Balaclava “to provide visible police presence and community reassurance”

>>19913695 Melbourne school students plan walkout in support of Palestine

>>19913704 Video: Palestinian-Australian burger chain owner moves family into safe house after death threat

>>19913742 Horror compounded by those who refuse to condemn Hamas - "That so many in our community appear to be incapable of expressing compassion for innocent Israeli civilians murdered affects me deeply." - Kylie Moore-Gilbert, detained in Iran in 2018 and served more than two years of a 10-year sentence before being freed in November 2020 - theaustralian.com.au

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:44 a.m. No.20092806   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 5

Israel / Hamas Conflict - The Australian Perspective - Part 5

>>19919387 Moral outrage, simply untrue: Marcia Langton slams Blak sovereignty’s Palestine stance

>>19919412 Jews and Palestinians deserve Indigenous respect: Marcia Langton - "“Blak sovereignty” advocates have entwined two extraordinary propositions - one that is simply untrue and one that is a moral outrage. First, they claim that “Indigenous Australians feel solidarity with Palestinians”. This is false; it is the view of a tiny few, if put in those words. Most of us are aware of the complexity and that there is very little comparable in our respective situations, other than our humanity. Second, they refuse to condemn Hamas. I am aghast and embarrassed. They do not speak for me." - Marcia Langton, chair of Australian Indigenous Studies, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, at the University of Melbourne - theaustralian.com.au

>>19919432 Video: Seven Labor MPs targeted with fake dead bodies in Gaza protest

>>19919447 Western Sydney jumping castle firm says no to ‘Zionist school’s blood money’

>>19919457 Video: Pro-Palestinian school protest ‘will stoke division’: Rabbi James Kennard, principal of Melbourne’s largest Jewish school, Mount Scopus Memorial College

>>19924932 Labor ‘not selective’ on human rights, says Anthony Albanese as he confronts head-on allegations that he has failed to tackle anti-Semitism following the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel

>>19924943 Mark Regev: the man from Melbourne running Israel’s PR war - "There are two wars being waged from the upper floors of Israel’s Ministry of Defence in downtown Tel Aviv. The first is an old-fashioned ground war, already on the verge of routing Hamas from Gaza barely six weeks after the incursion began. The second is a PR war, one that cannot be settled with tanks and weapons. It’s a shadow campaign for hearts and minds taking place in lounge rooms across Britain, the US and even Australia, led in part by Mark Regev, a diplomat who’s spent more than 15 years serving as a bulwark for the Jewish state in times of calamity. Born in Melbourne, he’s been a familiar sight on television during all manner of skirmishes and ­sorties with Hamas, whose formidable propaganda machine is often run unchecked, he says, by news organisations covering the conflicts. “Hamas gets a free ride because of their ability, through coercion, to control the message coming out of Gaza,” Mr Regev told The Australian." - Yoni Bashan - theaustralian.com.au

>>19924961 Police backflip on decision not to probe bouncy castle business that refused Jewish hire

>>19924973 Jewish Labor councillor Michelle Gray’s secret Hamas-apologist X account exposed

>>19931265 Port Phillip Mayor Heather Cunsolo apologises for Carlisle Street mural after paintings by Mic Porter attract criticism of anti-Semitism - Police investigating anti-Semitic graffiti in nearby Clayton South

 

>>19936175 NSW government rejects federal MP Julian Leeser's call for ban on 'anti-Semitic' car convoys

>>19936185 Jewish leaders have condemned as “ill-informed and inflammatory” comments from independent “teal” MP Zoe Daniel that Israel cannot “bomb” its “way to peace”.

>>19940999 Tens of thousands call for Gaza ceasefire at Australian rallies, hundreds call for release of hostages

>>19941028 ‘Rage and a hunger for justice’: Assange’s father speaks at pro-Palestine rally - Julian Assange’s father addressed thousands of Palestine supporters as they rallied in Melbourne’s CBD for the sixth weekend in a row to call for an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza

>>19957834 Political leaders from both sides come together to open Melbourne Holocaust Museum

>>19957888 Never again: Holocaust survivors angered by emergence of antisemitism

>>19957928 Video: NSW Police charge 23 pro-Palestinian activists over protest against Israeli shipping line ZIM at Sydney's Port Botany

>>19964026 Video: Hundreds of Victorian students abandon school in name of Palestine - Hundreds of Victorian school students have ignored days of warnings from principals and politicians to skip class in the name of Palestine

>>19964048 Video: Melbourne students walk out of school in support of Palestine - Hundreds of high school students walked out of classrooms across Melbourne today to rally in support of Palestine amid the Israel-Hamas violence in Gaza

>>19969874 Video: Chilling words of Aussie schoolkid at Melbourne rally: Hamas ‘doing a good job’

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:45 a.m. No.20092808   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 6

Israel / Hamas Conflict - The Australian Perspective - Part 6

>>19969918 Journalist union MEAA backs ‘scepticism’ campaign against Israel - The nation’s journalists’ union and key figures from outlets including the ABC, the Guardian Australia and Nine newspapers have endorsed and distributed an open letter to Australian journalists asking them to sign and commit to applying the same “professional scepticism” to uncorroborated Israeli government information as it applies to the terrorist group Hamas. In response, Nine’s editorial leadership team has banned any reporters who sign the letter from reporting on the conflict

>>19978453 Video: ‘We know your pain’: Federal independent senator Lidia Thorpe addresses thousands at Free Palestine rally

>>19984184 Melbourne Jewish school principal slams teachers’ week of solidarity for Palestine - Mount Scopus Memorial College principal Rabbi James Kennard said he is fearful for Jewish students in schools where teachers may be planning a week-long action in support of Palestine

>>19989477 Palestine solidarity action risks breaching code of conduct, teachers warned

>>19989602 Labor backflips to criminalise Nazi salute - The Albanese government will outlaw the Nazi salute, doing an about-face on its previous refusal to ban the gesture, as Labor moves to repair relations with the nation’s Jewish community

>>20001884 Video: Protesters target Israeli hostage families with pro-Palestine signs, bloodied dolls - Family members of Israelis who were killed or taken hostage by Hamas had to seek shelter at a Melbourne police station after they were confronted by a group of pro-Palestinian protesters in the lobby of their Docklands hotel. The group of masked protesters stood in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Melbourne hotel on Spencer Street, holding Palestinian flags and a large sign with the words “Stop arming Israel” and “Free Palestine”, and placed two bloodied dolls on the ground

 

>>20027549 Marles says Australia a safe destination as Israel issues travel warning - Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has defended Australia as a safe place to travel after the Israeli Security Council raised its threat level for several countries, advising its citizens to exercise extra caution due to a rise in attempted attacks and expressions of antisemitism

>>20043902 Penny Wong plans peace mission to Israel, Middle East - Foreign Minister Penny Wong will visit Israel within weeks as part of a wider Middle East trip to urge regional leaders to chart an end to the war in Gaza

>>20051482 ‘Be brave’: Penny Wong urged to break with US over war in Gaza - The top Palestinian representative in Australia has urged Foreign Minister Penny Wong to be “brave” enough to break with the United States over the war in Gaza, arguing that Israel’s right to self-defence did not offer a license to kill an unlimited number of Palestinian civilians. Izzat Salah Abdulhadi, the head of the general delegation of Palestine to Australia, warned that Israel’s war against Hamas has boosted the militant group’s popularity in the West Bank and Gaza, draining support from the more moderate and secular Palestinian Authority that he represents

>>20051506 Melbourne University students plan pro-Palestine graduation stunt - University of Melbourne students have been encouraged to wear Palestinian scarves at their upcoming graduation events this week. In a “call to action” on social media, the ‘unimelbforpalestine’ group has urged students to “show (their) solidarity” with Palestinian students as graduation ceremonies begin on Monday

>>20062118 ‘Roll up your sleeves’: Wong must demand Hamas’ elimination, says Sharma - Foreign Minister Penny Wong should use her upcoming trip to the Middle East to demand the elimination of Hamas and secure a role for Australia in brokering a post-war political settlement in Gaza, according to former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma

>>20066801 Australia breaks with US, backs Gaza ceasefire at United Nations - Australia has dramatically toughened its stance on Israel’s war against Hamas, breaking with the United States and United Kingdom to vote in favour of an immediate ceasefire at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The turnaround was welcomed by Palestinian advocates, but drew speedy criticism from Israel’s ambassador to Australia and leading Australian Jewish groups, which said the Albanese government “cannot have it both ways” on the war

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:46 a.m. No.20092809   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 7

Israel / Hamas Conflict - The Australian Perspective - Part 7

>>20066815 Anthony Albanese joins international calls for a ceasefire in Gaza - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined with his counterparts in New Zealand and Canada to express their support for "urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire" in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Anthony Albanese, Justin Trudeau and Christopher Luxon united in sharpening their language - on one hand, condemning Hamas and calling for the release of hostages, on the other, urging Israel to stop dropping bombs on Gaza - Sky News Australia

>>20066826 Khawaja to test cricket rules with pro-Palestine stand - Usman Khawaja will make a stand in support of Palestinians in Gaza during the First Test against Pakistan in Perth on Thursday. The opening batter had the words “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal” written on his shoes at team training ahead of the match

>>20066832 Cricket Australia tells Usman Khawaja to comply with 'personal opinion' rules over Gaza support shoes - Cricket Australia has quashed a planned on-field message Test cricketer Usman Khawaja intended to make about the Israel-Gaza war, saying it expects players to follow the rules about "personal opinions"

>>20072043 Gaza vote ‘risks US trust’ in Australia, Scott Morrison warns - Scott Morrison has warned Anthony Albanese’s failure to side with Joe Biden on Israel risks eroding American trust in Australia at a time when the nation’s strategic future depends on ongoing US support for the AUKUS submarine partnership. The former prime minister said Australia’s decision to break with its closest ally in a UN ceasefire resolution on Gaza had undermined US diplomacy, threat­ening Australia’s standing in Washington

>>20072071 Usman Khawaja vows to fight ruling as ICC rules pro-Palestine message out - Usman Khawaja has hit back at critics and cricket administrators after being told he could not wear shoes with human rights statements on them in Thursday’s Test match. Khawaja has been forced to retreat after being warned he could face serious consequences if he went ahead, but he has promised to fight the ruling and has explained his actions in a video

>>20078453 ‘Gas you’, ‘kill you’: surge in anti-Semitism incidents - Reports of serious incidents of anti-Semitism across Australia since the Hamas terror attack on Israel of October 7 have surged a staggering 738 per cent, a figure that Jewish leaders warn is “only the tip of the iceberg”. The most comprehensive report yet on the backlash against Jews from October 7 and the ­Israel-Hamas war, contains numerous shocking examples of how the scourge of anti-Semitism has taken hold in mainstream Australia

>>20087630 Sydney’s Jewish community: ‘Me too, unless you’re a Jew?’ - Sydney’s Jewish community have asked “why is it Me Too, unless you’re a Jew”, calling on the UN, and other women’s and humanitarian organisations, to call out Hamas’s attacks on female Israelis and Jews. At a rally in the city’s Prince Alfred Park, leaders urged the UN to be stronger on Hamas’s rapes, sexual assaults and “targeting” of Israeli women on and after the group’s October 7 attacks

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:46 a.m. No.20092811   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 8

Australian Politics and Society - Part 1

>>19822566 Jacinta Price calls voice leaders’ response pathetic and cowardly

>>19822579 The message Australians sent is clear: we won’t be divided by race - "On October 14, Australians sent a clear and unmistakable message: we won’t be divided by race. It’s a lesson the Yes campaigners and so-called Indigenous leaders have yet to learn. Despite a six-state and 60 per cent majority result, they continue to push guilt and grievance politics, playing the victim and doing everything they can to twist this result into an attack on Indigenous Australians. In a cowardly, anonymous open letter to parliamentarians, they have tried to make this referendum result about rejection. “Rejection of constitutional recognition will not deter us from speaking up to governments, parliaments and to the Australian people.” This letter is a pathetic, cynical attempt to keep race in the national conversation and to keep Australians divided. They know that this wasn’t simply about recognition, and no one was trying to silence the voices of Indigenous people." - Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, CLP senator for the NT and opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman.

>>19822727 Video: With Maine gunman on the run, Vice-President Kamala Harris points to Australia's gun laws

>>19829358 Police probe neo-Nazi over possible breach of salute laws outside court

>>19829417 Video: The day an Aussie plucked JFK from the sea - "On a moonless night in August 1943, a US torpedo boat commanded by the future US president Lt John F. Kennedy, on patrol in Solomon Islands, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Left clinging to wreckage, Kennedy’s crew eventually struggled ashore. Missing, presumed dead, behind enemy lines, and with no food or water, the future looked bleak for the shipwrecked Americans. Fortunately, Australian coast watcher Lt Reg Evans witnessed the immediate aftermath of the collision from his nearby jungle hideaway and, over the next five days, he worked with two Solomon Islander scouts - Eroni Kumana and Biuku Gasa — to locate Kennedy and his crew and ensured their rescue. For years, Evans’s identity was obscured, and misreported. But then, in April 1961, he received a note from Kennedy - who had by then become president of the United States – to “drop by the White House on May 1st, at 11:30am.”" - Extract from 'Saving Lieutenant Kennedy' (UNSW Press) by Brett Mason.

>>19829429 PNG military leader to serve as deputy commander of Australian Army's 3rd Brigade in Townsville

>>19829446 Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post: Video: Until next time - Marine Rotational Force - Darwin 23 concludes its 12th iteration in Australia, achieving several milestones contributing to a safe and prosperous Indo-Pacific alongside Pacific Allies and Partners.

>>19835781 ‘Evil’: Stan Grant breaks silence on failed Voice to Parliament referendum

>>19835792 ‘Cold heart’: Stan Grant unloads over No vote

 

>>19835804 Stan Grant laments Indigenous voice to parliament referendum defeat: ‘People found it easy to say No’

>>19841272 ACT’s ‘liberal’ voluntary assisted dying bill to reject death time frames

>>19841309 ACT euthanasia laws to give nurses green light to discuss assisted suicide with patients

>>19847303 Video: White supremacist facing charges after allegedly performing Nazi salute

>>19847448 Video: Australia's most wanted gangster Hakan Ayik arrested in Turkey

>>19853715 Fate of Australian women and children in Syrian refugee camps decided in Federal Court

>>19853783 Hakan Ayik and others arrested in joint Turkish drug sting believed they were 'untouchable', AFP says

>>19853835 U.S. Secret Service Tweet: We're proud to announce that we've signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the @AusFedPolice that will make it easier for us to share assets and intelligence while combatting digital threats.

>>19859616 Melbourne bikie and model caught in raids on global crime bosses in Turkey

 

>>19864041 Maximilian Rivkin: Hakan Ayik’s offsider arrested in Turkey

>>19864072 Alleged fugitive Nejmi Saki arrested in Turkey after six years on the run

>>19864361 Video: Police investigate Islamic preacher ‘Brother Ismail’ over Hamas, jihad comments

>>19869071 Voice focus stirs blue collar revolt against Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party

>>19869075 Newspoll reveals Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s approval rating slumping four points to 42 per cent

>>19869081 Anthony Albanese’s approval ratings now deep into negative territory after Voice failure: Newspoll

>>19874526 Australian mercenary Abdelfetah ‘Adam’ Nourine accused of killing British soldier Daniel Burke in Ukraine

>>19874550 Video: Al Madina Dawah Centre in new hate outburst after Brother Ismail sermon

>>19874641 JK Rowling knocks back SA Chief Justice on preferred gender pronoun edict

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:47 a.m. No.20092812   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 9

Australian Politics and Society - Part 2

>>19880100 Video: Major Optus outage affects millions of customers

>>19880153 Australian Defence Force renames drones as it weeds out gender-specific language

>>19880192 Video: ‘Kill Jews’ hate preacher Wissam Haddad (Abu Ousayd) unmasked as Islamic State backer

>>19880211 Tech giant Meta is under fire for repartnering with RMIT FactLab despite complaints about its bias

>>19880247 Video: Former young Liberal turned neo-Nazi Stefan Eracleous accused of making violent Lidia Thorpe video

>>19885915 AFP refer hate-fuelled Al Madina Dawah sermon to terror squad

>>19885961 Pacific Islands Forum: Leaders to push Anthony Albanese for greater climate action

>>19885977 Anthony Albanese wages climate change offensive as Pacific leaders make fossil fuel demands during COP31 bid

>>19885997 Video: Cate Blanchett slams Australia in speech to the European Union

>>19886003 Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth by-passing Northern Territory leaders on Indigenous affairs

 

>>19886006 NSW Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig suspends Canada Bay mayor Angelo Tsirekas after state watchdog finds he engaged in “serious corrupt conduct”

>>19886046 Rapist’s release after High Court decision triggers Senate debate - A Rohingya man convicted of raping a 10-year-old boy has been released on strict visa conditions after winning a High Court legal battle against the Commonwealth to overturn a 20-year-old legal precedent that could prompt the release of more than 90 people the government cannot deport. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the government would do everything possible to ensure community safety but couldn’t act without the advice of the Solicitor General, who warned the High Court on Wednesday that the cohort featured convicted murderers, sex offenders and people smugglers. Giles said the government had given “quite some thought” to the outcome of the case but declined to outline any solutions, including legislation or special visas, after the Coalition called for an urgent, legislative fix. “The High Court has just handed down a decision which has substantially changed the operation of the law insofar as it relates to immigration detention,” he said. “In order to ensure community safety for those who are affected by this, many of whom have committed serious criminal offences, we need to make sure that our response is consistent with the law as set out by the High Court yesterday.”

>>19892466 Video: Anthony Albanese trips the light Pacific during delicate diplomatic dance

>>19892474 Anthony Albanese gets down for island fling over climate but declines Treaty of Rarotonga tango

>>19892511 Video: Anthony Albanese offers Tuvalu residents the right to resettle in Australia, as climate change 'threatens its existence'

>>19892530 Australia offers Tuvalu residents special visa in ‘groundbreaking’ treaty

>>19895452 Video: Australians to pause and reflect this Remembrance Day - Across the nation tomorrow, Australians will mark Remembrance Day with moments of silence and solemn ceremonies for those who died in war and in service of our country. - 9 News Australia

>>19895471 Video: Australians pay their respects on Remembrance Day - Australians are paying their respects today as the nation marks Remembrance Day. The sails of the Opera House were illuminated on Saturday morning with poppies to mark 105 years since the end of World War I. More than 100,000 Australians died in conflict and peacekeeping operations during the four-year battle. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend a service at Sydney's Martin Place later today, alongside New South Wales Premier Chris Minns. Meanwhile, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh will spend Armistice Day in the UK with Australian soldiers training Ukrainian armed forces. - Sky News Australia

>>19895488 Video: Remembrance Day 2023 - This Remembrance Day, join the world in honouring those who gave their lives in service. Saturday 11 November 2023 marks the anniversary of the Armistice that ended fighting with Germany in World War I. Every year at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, millions around the globe pause in silence to remember the sacrifices many have made so we can enjoy life today. Attend a service, wear a poppy, or observe a minute’s silence at 11am, and help keep the legacy of our service people alive. Lest we forget. - RSL Queensland

>>19895531 Australian War Memorial Tweet: Between 1914 - 18 Australia sent 414,000 of their citizens to face the horrors of modern industrialized war. By 1918, almost 62,000 Australians lay dead among the mud and destruction of the trenches in Europe, the sands of Sinai, Palestine and Syria. Lest We Forget.

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:50 a.m. No.20092821   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 11

Australian Politics and Society - Part 4

>>19913727 Wissam Haddad doubles down on sermons and spruiks Holocaust comparison

>>19913769 High Court decision: Clare O’Neil says some freed detainees committed ‘disgusting crimes’ and hurt people still living in Australia

>>19924983 Far-right threats against Lidia Thorpe force her to live out of home for months and spark a major security review, keeping the firebrand MP away from parliament

>>19924986 Air Marshal Darren Goldie recalled from his secondment as Government Cyber Security Co-ordinator over workplace complaint 'related to his time in Defence'

>>19924988 Australian warship commander removed following alcohol incident - "A commanding officer of an Australian warship has been removed from his position while an inquiry begins into alleged "unacceptable behaviour" involving alcohol, which is prohibited when Navy personnel are at sea. Defence has confirmed the senior officer is no longer in command of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) vessel but is not releasing any other details about the matter due to privacy obligations. "There is no place for unacceptable behaviour or conduct within Defence," a defence spokesperson told the ABC in response to a series of questions. "All allegations of unacceptable behaviour are taken very seriously and investigated thoroughly following due process," the spokesperson added. Military sources say the captain is being investigated over allegations of "heavy drinking" while at sea, as well as an incident at an international event that caused "embarrassment" in front of United States Navy counterparts." - Andrew Greene - abc.net.au

>>19924989 Trial of military whistleblower David McBride, who leaked secret allegations of Australian war crimes, begins

>>19925015 Video: International crime syndicate dismantled by NSW Police in large-scale operation - Strike Force Tromperie was created by NSW Police's State Crime Command to target an underworld network from Lebanon, with the assistance of Australian Border Force.

 

>>19931450 Indefinite immigration detention ruled unlawful in landmark Australian high court decision - Indefinite immigration detention is unlawful, the high court has held, in a landmark decision overturning a 20-year-old precedent. The result overturns the case of Al-Kateb, which had authorised indefinite detention of non-citizens without a valid visa even in circumstances where it is impossible to deport the individual - The decision could trigger immediate release of 92 people, with detention of 340 others also in doubt.

>>19931318 Labor capitulates to Peter Dutton’s demands for urgent and far-reaching controls over criminals released from immigration detention following a High Court ruling, acknowledging serious community fears over those set free

>>19931479 Dutton pushes for more laws to re-detain those released by High Court ruling

>>19931514 Bikie gangs, violent sexual offences: Crimes of dozens of detainees revealed - Twenty-seven of the foreigners whose indefinite detention was quashed by a landmark High Court decision are cases that have been referred to immigration ministers over several years under the category of “very serious violent offences, very serious crimes against children, very serious family or domestic violence or violent, sexual or exploitative offences”.

>>19931551 Video: Military lawyer David McBride pleads guilty to unlawfully sharing secret allegations of Australian war crimes

>>19936337 United States appeals legal liability after marine burned by exploding barbecue in Darwin - The US government has gone to the Supreme Court of Appeal arguing it cannot be sued over an explosion at a Darwin army base that left a marine seriously injured.

>>19936398 ‘Where is the human right for the victim’s family?’ A father’s anguish as killer walks free - It took a full week for Shaariibuu Setev to be told that the Malaysian hit man who murdered his daughter Altantuya had been released from Villawood Detention Centre on the orders of the Australian High Court and was now a free man.

>>19936502 Released detainees to wear ankle bracelets indefinitely, as lawyers condemn ‘disproportionate’ response

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:51 a.m. No.20092823   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 10

Australian Politics and Society - Part 3

>>19895606 Peter Dutton Tweet: Video: On Remembrance Day, may the weight of the collective deeds of all Australians who have served in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations throughout our history be imperishably enshrined in our hearts. May the sacrifice of so many in war forever reside in our national consciousness so we never become cavalier about our duty to preserve peace. Lest we forget.

>>19895638 U.S. Embassy Australia Tweet: Video: “I want to say thank you to all those who have served and sacrificed.” Ambassador Kennedy reflects on Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Australia.

>>19895687 Video: Victorian State Remembrance Day Service 2023 - Every year at 11am on 11 November - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - we pause to remember those who have served and those who have died in all wars and peacekeeping operations. For 89 years the Shrine of Remembrance has been the home of commemoration and remembrance for the Victorian community. It is a reminder of the fragility of peace and the cost of conflict, as well as a testament to the fortitude, courage and generosity of those who serve all of us. - ShrineMelbourne

>>19895732 Remembrance Day poems - For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon (1914), In Flanders Fields by John McCrae (1914) and We Shall Keep the Faith by Moina Michael (1918)

>>19896249, >>19896300 Repost from Q Research General #24429 - "Ambassador Kennedy reflects on Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Australia." - "background music seems familiar somehow" - WWG1WGA by Richard Feelgood - https://music.apple.com/au/artist/richard-feelgood/673921401 - https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/108790947668067601

>>19897955 DP World cyber incident shuts down Australian ports

>>19897968 Ports to remain closed as AFP investigates cybersecurity breach

 

>>19898169 Recovery mission for Taipan defence helicopter complete after crash in Whitsundays - A three-month recovery mission for a defence helicopter that crashed into the sea off Queensland's coast has concluded, but the families of the four crewmen on board will remain without answers for up to a year. On July 28, a MRH90 Taipan helicopter involved in nocturnal training as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre ditched into waters near Lindeman Island in the Whitsundays with four crew members on board. Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class Two Joseph Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs were killed in the crash. Hundreds of Australian Defence Force (ADF) and emergency service personnel have been scouring waters around the Whitsunday Coast for more than three months. In a statement released on Thursday, the ADF said "all practical wreckage and remnants" from the helicopter had been recovered and would inform ongoing aviation and coronial investigations. "A major search and recovery effort involving hundreds of ADF personnel, international military and civilian agencies was conducted, with all practical wreckage and remnants from the MRH90 Taipan recovered to inform ongoing aviation and coronial investigations," it said.

>>19903681 Government doesn't know details behind cyber hack that shut down port operator DP World

>>19903692 Malaysian hitman released from Australian immigration detention after high court ruling

>>19903720 History repeating? What the world could expect from a second Donald Trump presidency - "Americans will head to the polls in November next year to elect a president - but will they re-elect a former one? While sitting president Joe Biden is the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, he may not be the only person to have served in the role to be in the running for it again. Former US president Donald Trump is also running for presidency in 2024, but what are his chances of returning to the Oval Office? Trump served as president from January 2017 to January 2021, after losing the election to current president Biden. He refused to concede, spreading claims of electoral fraud and initiating a campaign to overturn the result. Trump is one of nine Republican candidates in the running to be the party's presidential nominee. He will go through the pre-selection process to determine whether it will be his name or someone else's that's eventually listed on the ballot paper." - Aleisha Orr - sbs.com.au

>>19907830 Australia Says Ports Operator Cyber Incident ‘Serious’

>>19908007 Ransomware crackdown: Companies will be forced to report cyber ransom demands under Australia’s first mandatory no-fault reporting system

>>19908026 Freight giant DP World recovers from cyber attack, but warns investigation and remediation is 'ongoing'

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:53 a.m. No.20092825   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 12

Australian Politics and Society - Part 5

>>19936588 Doctors step up calls for gender care re-examination - The battle over gender-affirmative medicine in Australia has intensified with a call to arms by two experienced psychiatrists for their fellow doctors to resist the pressure of activism that has triggered the widespread “subordination of clinical governance to social and political goals” in the rush to affirm distressed children’s chosen gender. The psychiatrists used an academic paper in a top psychiatry journal to urge the medical profession to heed the “cautionary tale” posed by the healthcare scandal that unfolded at London’s Tavistock clinic and in British compensation cases they say are directly relevant to Australia. Monash Medical Centre child and adolescent psychiatrist George Halasz and Andrew Amos, an academic psychiatrist who has previously held a training role with Queensland’s health department, went as far as to remind doctors of their obligation to observe the Hippocratic oath in questioning the evidence base of affirmative medicine.

>>19941040 Voice fallout: support for treaty plunges after referendum - Only a third of voters believe the federal government should pursue a treaty-making process with Indigenous Australians or establish a “truth-telling” commission, with support for the remaining ambitions of the Uluru Statement languishing in the aftermath of the Voice referendum. Exclusive findings from the Resolve Political Monitor, conducted for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, show that support for treaty processes has nosedived following the Voice defeat, plunging from 58 per cent in October to 33 per cent this month.

>>19941089 Minnesota governor ‘surprised’ at Australia’s slow pace on cannabis legalisation - Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was not shy with his advice for NSW Premier Chris Minns. “You don’t get elected to get re-elected,” he said, suggesting the path to success for the first-term Minns government was in aggressively pursuing reform.

>>19941169 What the Secret Service agent saw - "Secret Service agent Paul Landis was with John F. Kennedy in Dallas when he was assassinated 60 years ago, and is one of the few surviving witnesses. His account up-ends the findings of the official verdict." - Troy Bramston - theaustralian.com.au

>>19941182 Q Post #703 - “Rest in peace Mr. President (JFK), through your wisdom and strength, since your tragic death, Patriots have planned, installed, and by the grace of God, activated, the beam of LIGHT. We will forever remember your sacrifice. May you look down from above and continue to guide us as we ring the bell of FREEDOM and destroy those who wish to sacrifice our children, our way of life, and our world. We, the PEOPLE.” - Prayer said every single day in the OO. JFK - Secret Socities. Where we go one, we go all. Q - https://qanon.pub/#703

>>19946753 Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigns, having presided over two high-profile telco disasters within 13 months

 

>>19946776 Thalidomide survivors to receive national apology for pharmaceutical 'disaster' - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has invited thalidomide survivors and their families to Canberra on November 29 to say sorry. The national apology will be followed by a dedication ceremony that will unveil a monument at Kings Park in Canberra to recognise thalidomide survivors and their families

>>19952057 ‘Very important signal’: Zelensky welcomes Fox chief Lachlan Murdoch’s visit to Kyiv - Lachlan Murdoch, the new chairman of News Corp, has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv in a sign his global media empire will continue to throw its weight behind the war-torn nation’s struggle against Russia

>>19952193 John F. Kennedy’s leadership legacy lives on, 60 years after Dallas - "The tragic and traumatic nature of Kennedy’s death has shaped perceptions of his presidency. There also have been many attempts to sanitise his flaws and sentimentalise his achievements, not least the Camelot lore. We need to assess his legacy not through the prism of his death but by what he did in life. If we do so, his exalted place in history is earned." - Troy Bramston - theaustralian.com.au

>>19952195 Q Post #783 - Clown Agency>No Such Agency. RIP JFK - we will succeed. Pyramid will collapse. Think shell. Q - https://qanon.pub/#783

>>19952195 Q Post #2573 - "The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high - to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future." - JFK - Q - https://qanon.pub/#2573

>>19958277, >>19958280 JFK assassination 60th anniversary: How Australians heard the news about US president's murder

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:53 a.m. No.20092827   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 13

Australian Politics and Society - Part 6

>>19964313 Boat from Indonesia arrives undetected on Australian mainland - Asylum-seekers have arrived by boat at a WWII airfield owned by Aboriginal people on an isolated and rugged stretch of Kimberley coastline, sources have told The Australian. The group of 12 people - believed to have travelled from Indonesia - are not fishermen but asylum-seekers, according to sources familiar with events.

>>19969939 Don’t give up on Indigenous voice, say First Nations leaders - Labor and Indigenous leaders are exploring other ways to implement advice from First Nations Australians into policymaking after the failure of the referendum last month, with Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney leaving the door open to pursuing local and regional voices as an alternative model

>>19969966 Linda Burney says she’s ‘going forward’ after Voice defeat, remains committed to truth-telling - Linda Burney has no regrets over Labor’s approach to the Voice to parliament referendum and says local and regional voices, and truth-telling, remain on the government’s agenda despite last month’s outcome.

>>19969991 Labor’s asylum-seeker headache lands in WA as arrivals sent to Nauru - The 12 asylum-seekers apprehended by Australian Border Force officials in Western Australia on Wednesday have been flown to Nauru. After initial processing in Darwin, the 12 individuals have been confirmed as unauthorised maritime arrivals. The Australian understands they will remain in Nauru awaiting regional processing, which is consistent with Operation Sovereign Borders protocols that have been in place for more than a decade.

>>19978165 Australia Activists Disrupt Shipping At Coal Port - A climate change protest off Australia’s east coast disrupted operations at the country’s biggest coal export port on Saturday, the port operator said. Climate activist group Rising Tide, which claimed responsibility for the action, said around 1,500 people were at the protest, 300 of them in the shipping channel near the Port of Newcastle, as part of a 30-hour blockade set to run until 4 p.m. on Sunday.

>>19978489 Shock Liberal senate preselection victory as Dave Sharma returns to federal politics - Former Wentworth MP Dave Sharma has returned to frontline politics, beating a packed field of candidates in a Liberal preselection on Sunday to replace outgoing senator Marise Payne in federal parliament

>>19984139 Newspoll: Voters abandon Anthony Albanese as Labor’s fortunes nosedive - Labor’s primary vote has tumbled to below its 2022 election result for the first time with both major parties now neck and neck on a two-party-preferred basis as cost-of-living pressures escalate and the Albanese government faces a mounting list of political and policy crises

 

>>19984152 Get your act together: voters’ Newspoll warning to Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party

>>19984157 Newspoll shows Anthony Albanese is following Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd down the tubes

>>19984211 Powerful Home Affairs boss Mike Pezzullo sacked after investigation into backchannel lobbying - Mike Pezzullo, the head of the Home Affairs Department, was considered one of the most influential figures in the machinery of government even before alleged private conversations with a Liberal powerbroker exposed he had seemingly spent years using a political backchannel to influence prime ministers and undermine others

>>19989556 Australian National University study of 4200 Australians finds voters rejected voice model, not constitutional recognition

>>19989571 Labor senator Patrick Dodson to retire from parliament amid health battle

>>19989621 ‘She’s very excited’: Top Trump foe Nancy Pelosi to visit Australia - One of the most influential politicians in recent United States history - former House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi - is set to visit Australia next year as part of an effort to boost American tourist numbers. Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell said he invited Pelosi and husband Paul to make the trip while sitting beside the pair during a dinner in San Francisco earlier this month

>>19989725 ‘Fully engaged’: Rudd opens up on Biden’s age and Trump’s possible return - Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has staunchly defended Joe Biden amid growing concerns the US president is too old to run for re-election, describing him as engaged, across his brief and a first-class negotiator on global issues

>>19995394 Worst offenders among immigration detainees could be locked up again - The worst offenders released from immigration detention could be locked up again under new preventative detention laws the Albanese government vows to rush through parliament before Christmas

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:54 a.m. No.20092829   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 14

Australian Politics and Society - Part 7

>>19995456 ‘We are sorry’: Prime Minister issues apology to thalidomide survivors - Anthony Albanese has delivered a national apology to survivors and their families impacted by the thalidomide tragedy, calling it “one of the darkest chapters in Australia’s medical history”. The Prime Minister on Wednesday offered a “full, unreserved and overdue” apology to all thalidomide survivors, their families, loved ones and careers and announced Labor would re-start financial support for affected people. Mr Albanese also unveiled a national site of recognition on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra chosen in collaboration with thalidomide survivors to represent the government’s commitment to learn from the past

>>19995479 Video: PM apologises to thalidomide victims for 'one of the darkest chapters in Australia's medical history'

>>19995500 Video: Emotional scenes as Anthony Albanese offers a national apology to thalidomide survivors

>>20001913 Video: Dutton demands apology for O’Neil’s claims he voted to protect paedophiles - Peter Dutton is demanding an apology from federal Labor ministers who claimed he had voted to protect paedophiles rather than children, even as the federal government scrambles to secure his support for new laws that would return to detention the worst criminal offenders released after the landmark High Court ruling. Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Sports Minister Anika Wells both made the claim against Dutton - a former Queensland police officer who had worked in the sex offenders squad - in parliament and during a television interview, prompting a fierce response from the federal opposition leader and his colleagues

>>20008367 ‘A bucket of dirt dropped on us’: Backlash grows to Australia-Tuvalu treaty - Australia is facing an intense backlash to its landmark resettlement and security treaty with Tuvalu, as the island nation’s opposition leader Enele Sopoaga vows to scrap the pact in its current form if elected

>>20013200 OPINION: The first Madam President? The woman Biden may fear more than Trump - "Nikki Haley is having a moment. Polling in the key primary state of New Hampshire suggests that the sole female Republican presidential candidate has surged ahead of the charisma-challenged Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has tried to position himself as the alternative to Donald Trump. More significantly, this week Haley received the backing of the political network founded by the Koch brothers, the right-wing businessmen whose vast wealth made them such mighty powerbrokers on the American right. Let us put to one side how the influence of elderly billionaires shows that US politics is not just a gerontocracy but also a plutocracy. David Koch died in 2019, aged 79, while 88-year-old Charles is still active. More germane is that Haley is solidifying her status as Trump’s main rival." - Nick Bryant, author of 'When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present' - theage.com.au

 

>>20018188 Emmanuel Macron says Australia should lift its nuclear ban as Albanese government shuns 2050 nuclear pledge - French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Australia to lift its nuclear ban as the Albanese government shunned a declaration endorsed by more than 20 countries at the UN climate change conference to triple nuclear energy capacity globally by 2050.

>>20018229 Video: Neo-Nazi protest rocks Ballarat as community expresses outrage over march - A group of masked neo-Nazis has shocked a Victorian city after they paraded down a major street with strange demands for an “Australia for the white man”

>>20022688 Video: Long wait for anti-vilification laws as police grapple with neo-Nazis - Tougher anti-vilification laws will not be brought before the Victorian Parliament until the second half of next year as the state grapples with another neo-Nazi demonstration

>>20022713 Video: Masood Zakaria, alleged Alameddine crime figure, deported to Australia - Alleged Alameddine crime figure Masood Zakaria will face an Australian court two years after police allege he escaped the country on a fishing boat and entered Turkey

>>20022724 Australia and France sign military access agreement as post-Aukus tensions ease - Australia and France have promised to grant access to each other’s military bases and training facilities in a clear break from their post-Aukus blues

>>20022733 Sub snub forgiven as Australia, France step up defence ties - Australian warships will get access to French naval bases in the Pacific under a new defence cooperation agreement that sweeps away lingering ill-will from the AUKUS pact and boosts Western efforts to counter China’s influence in the region

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:54 a.m. No.20092830   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 15

Australian Politics and Society - Part 8

>>20027558 Australia and Papua New Guinea to sign major bilateral security agreement during PNG prime minister James Marape's Canberra visit - The agreement will focus heavily on Papua New Guinea's internal security, with PNG looking to Australia to do more to help train and bolster its police force

>>20027565 Papua New Guinea to recruit Australia police in security deal - Papua New Guinea will recruit Australian police officers for key positions in its national police force under a wide-ranging security deal to be signed this week that also covers defence and biosecurity, Papua New Guinea's Minister of State Justin Tkatchenko said

>>20027579 Government rejects calls for O'Neil and Giles to resign after released detainees arrested - Colleagues of Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles have rejected calls for their resignations, following charges of indecent assault laid on a man released from immigration detention just weeks ago

>>20027602 Video: Senate speeds through new lock-up laws after child sex ringleader charged - A man who ran a child sex ring in Victoria has become the third former immigration detainee to face court on fresh charges after he allegedly contacted a child online following his release, as the Senate waved through tough new laws to lock up the worst offenders

>>20033209 Fourth detainee arrested as Labor, Coalition race to pass new laws - As Labor and the Coalition prepared to pass new laws late on Wednesday evening that would allow individuals to be re-detained, a fourth person was charged in Melbourne for allegedly failing to comply with a curfew and stealing luggage at Melbourne Airport.

>>20033221 Video: ‘I will not be apologising’: Dreyfus shouts at reporter in fiery High Court exchange - Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has lost his temper at a Sky News reporter, declaring he would not be apologising for upholding the rule of law

 

>>20033239 Video: Man arrested in Arizona over religiously motivated terror attack at Wieambilla sent shooters 'end of days' ideological messages - A man arrested in the US state of Arizona in connection with the religiously-motivated terrorist attack in Wieambilla last year sent the shooters "Christian end-of-days" ideological messages in the months leading up to it, police have revealed. The 58-year-old, who can now be identified as Donald Day, was arrested near Heber-Overgaard, north-east of Phoenix, on December 1 US time as part of the investigation

>>20033273 US man arrested over inciting violence online in 'religiously motivated' Wieambilla police massacre - A man has been arrested in the United States over online comments that allegedly incited violence before the "religiously motivated terrorist attack" in regional Queensland where two police officers and an innocent neighbour were slain. Queensland Police said officers travelled to the US to meet with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents to arrest Donald Day, 58, near Heber Overgaard in Arizona on December 1

>>20038456 Video: US man faces court over alleged links to Wieambilla shootings - A US man has faced court in Arizona after being arrested by Queensland Police and the FBI in connection with last year's Wieambilla shootings - 9 News Australia

>>20038458 Video: Arizona man connected to 2022 Australia shooting - Authorities say the arrest is in connection to the murders of two police officers and another man in 2022, and say the attack was religiously motivated - AZFamily Arizona News

>>20038459 Northern Arizona man charged for inciting religious terror attack in Australia that killed two police officers - "A U.S. citizen has been charged in Arizona over online comments that allegedly incited what police describe as a “religiously-motivated terrorist attack” in Australia a year ago in which six people died, officials said Wednesday. Court documents identify the suspect as 58-year-old Donald Day Jr." - Jason Sillman - azfamily.com

>>20038464 Video: Exclusive: Witness records FBI agents arresting Arizona man tied to Australia terror attack - "The FBI has arrested and charged an Arizona man for online comments that allegedly incited what police are calling a “religiously-motivated terrorist attack” in Australia in which six people died, including two police officers. 58-year-old Donald Day Jr. was arrested on December 1 in the small community of Heber Overgaard. Residents said it happened at the Chevron on Hwy 260 on the morning of December 1. Usually, the town is quiet, with most of the buzz hitting during summer tourism. However, that changed last Friday when people said about 20 FBI officers swarmed the gas station to arrest Day." - Mason Carroll - azfamily.com

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:55 a.m. No.20092831   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 16

Australian Politics and Society - Part 9

>>20038468 Albanese stokes Bougainville tensions, amid new security pact with PNG - Anthony Albanese has inflamed tensions over one of the region’s potential flashpoints - the future of Bougainville - as he signed a landmark new security agreement with Papua New Guinea. The Australia-PNG pact sidelines China by prioritising security dialogue between Canberra and Port Moresby above other partners, and introducing an ANZUS-like guarantee to consult if either country is attacked

>>20038482 Uproar as NSW Police, AFP drop investigations into southwest Sydney hate-speech clerics - State and federal police have dropped their investigations into a series of hate-fuelled anti-semitic sermons in NSW, saying the clerics’ calls for jihad and spitting on Israel so “Jews would drown” didn’t meet the criminality threshold. The sermons by Sydney-based clerics Abu Ousayd and “Brother Ismail” across multiple videos involved calling for jihad, reciting parables calling for the killing of Jews, and encouraging Middle Eastern Muslim nations to spit on Israel so the “Jews would drown”. NSW Police launched an investigation and the Australian Federal Police referred one of the sermons - believed to be Brother Ismail’s - to its terror squad for ­assessment in early November. On Wednesday, NSW Police confirmed investigations had been dropped and would not resume. “The content of the speeches were reviewed, with legal advice from parties independent of the investigators ­obtained,” a NSW Police spokesman said. “The NSW Police Force understands it does not meet the threshold of any criminal offence. There will be no further investigation into the matter.”

>>20038490 Peter Dutton finishes 2023 in the political ascendancy over Anthony Albanese - "Peter Dutton finished the 2023 parliamentary sittings in a political ascendancy over Anthony Albanese that was so complete, the Opposition Leader actually delivered a better annual Christmas message than the Prime Minister. Albanese’s Christmas message seemed to lack a focus and life while Dutton’s was composed, had a checklist of thanks and even mentioned Christianity. After the Christmas messages Albanese left the chamber unaccompanied. A government is in the doldrums when it loses the Christmas valedictories." - Dennis Shanahan - theaustralian.com.au

>>20047900 Sixth immigration detainee arrested after High Court ruling - A sixth person released from immigration detention has been arrested after allegedly breaching his curfew conditions in Melbourne’s inner west overnight. The 36-year-old man from Eritrea was arrested by the Australian Federal Police on Friday evening after allegedly breaching a residential condition of his Commonwealth visa

>>20047909 Anthony Albanese announces plan to reduce immigration levels following Covid influx - Immigration will be scaled back to what are considered sustainable levels hand-in-hand with a crackdown on abuses of Australia’s intake of overseas students.

>>20051477 Video: ‘Time for me to leave’: Annastacia Palaszczuk to quit as Queensland premier - Annastacia Palaszczuk, the so-called “accidental premier” who led Labor to three Queensland election victories, will resign from politics after almost nine years in the top job

>>20057006 ‘January 26 is still Australia Day’: High commissioner cancels London gala over ‘sensitivities’ - Anthony Albanese’s hand-picked high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, has closed the doors of Australia House to organisers of an annual Australia Day fundraiser, citing sensitivities around celebrating the national day

>>20062088 Dutton attacks High Commissioner for Australia Day ‘shame’ - Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Stephen Smith should be “looking for a new job” if doesn’t believe in Australia Day, accusing him of being “ashamed” of the controversial national holiday.

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:56 a.m. No.20092834   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 17

Australian Politics and Society - Part 10

>>20072028 US seeks Australian help to protect ships in Red Sea as Middle East tensions soar - The US Navy has asked Australia to send a warship to the Red Sea as part of an expanded international task force, in response to growing attacks on shipping by Iran-backed militia that are threatening vital global sea lanes

>>20072156 Video: ‘We will adopt him’: Donald Trump's light-hearted moment with Australian in Iowa - Former US president Donald Trump has had a light-hearted interaction with an Australian man while campaigning in Iowa. The Australian received a loud cheer when he revealed where he was from after being questioned by Mr Trump. “Are you from this state?” Mr Trump questioned the audience member. “Oh, he’s from Australia,” the former president continued. “Well, we’ll adopt him.” - Sky News Australia

>>20078353 Labor considers local, regional voices after failed voice referendum - Labor is considering rolling out local and regional voices across the country using an existing model and without legislation, as it prepares to unveil “next steps” following the failed referendum as early as February

>>20078497 Navy ready for new mission after AUKUS bill passes - The Australian navy has declared it is ready to send a warship on a dangerous Middle East mission if the government agrees to an American request, just hours after the US congress gave the green light to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia

>>20087589 Anthony Albanese skips voice referendum, Indigenous Australians in 2023 wrap - The Coalition has launched a pre-Christmas attack against Anthony Albanese for failing to mention the voice referendum or his government’s plan for Indigenous Australians in his 2023 end-of-year wrap, accusing the Prime Minister of “airbrushing” the defeated vote

>>20087596 Navy hangs on Red Sea mission call - Defence officials will hold talks with American counterparts this week on a US Navy request for an Australian warship to join a dangerous new Middle East mission. Australia officials will seek US feedback on how critical Australian involvement is to the expanded Red Sea operation to protect commercial shipping from attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels

>>20087601 Video: Radical Sydney cleric calls for Muslim army to fight against West in incendiary sermon - A cleric’s sermon at a southwest Sydney Islamic centre – the subject of two recently dropped investigations – has called for the establishment of a Muslim army to defend Islam and fight against the West. “This (the Israel-Palestine conflict) has to be a spark for the Muslim community and the final solution, to unite (under one leader) who implements the sharia and sends Muslim armies to defend the lands of Islam,” a cleric known as “Brother Muhammad” told a crowd at the Al Madina Dawah Centre, Bankstown

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:57 a.m. No.20092837   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 18

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Pandemic, Australia and Worldwide

>>19841345 ‘A slightly more dangerous place’: Australia is in its eighth COVID wave

>>19874569 What’s the evidence? Inquiry to probe rationale for COVID lockdowns - Evidence used to justify lockdowns and other pandemic interventions will be examined by the federal COVID-19 inquiry in an expansion of its scope, after the Albanese government was roundly criticised for omitting state government decisions from its remit.

>>19892774 NSW Health encourages mask-wearing as COVID-19 cases rise

>>19952065 Australians to receive new COVID vaccines targeting Omicron sub-variants - Australians will have access to the latest COVID-19 vaccines that target common variants from December, while only about a quarter of vulnerable people have had their booster shots as the country reports a surge in cases.

>>19989396 Video: Covid lab leak deliberately suppressed - An intelligence agency official with a background at the World Health Organisation was involved in downplaying the lab leak theory during Joe Biden’s 90-day probe into the origins of Covid-19. Senior United States officials and intelligence agency insiders have told a new Sky News documentary that senior officials running the Biden probe pushed the natural origin theory. And Sky News has also obtained exclusive audio from inside an internal State Department meeting where intelligence agency figures were pushing back against a scientist who insisted Covid-19 was created in a laboratory. Former Acting Assistant Secretary of State Thomas DiNanno tells “What Really Happened in Wuhan, the Next Chapter” that when his team unearthed explosive evidence that pointed to a laboratory leak during the Trump Administration, the intelligence community ran interference in support of the natural origin narrative.

>>19989420 Covid-19 conspirator Robert Kadlec warns lab leak could spark another pandemic - The US health official who conspired with Anthony Fauci to downplay suggestions that Covid-19 leaked from a Wuhan laboratory says another pandemic could emerge from high-risk experiments in laboratories globally, saying the lessons from Covid-19 have not been learnt. The former assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the US Department of Health, Robert Kadlec, has also revealed to Sky News that he lies awake at night agonising at the chain of events he and Dr Fauci had set in motion.

>>19989446 Covid-19 cover-up exposed at last - "It’s astonishing to consider that Anthony Fauci stood on the White House podium in early 2020, beside the president of the United States, and resolutely told the world that Covid-19 was a natural virus. Curiously, he failed to mention that his agency had funded coronavirus experiments in Wuhan so dangerous that they had been banned in the US by the Obama administration. Fauci knew, too, that eminent scientists privately harboured concerns Covid-19’s genetic sequence had unusual features inconsistent with evolutionary theory. Yet he reassured the public that there was no reason to suspect a laboratory incident in Wuhan and, as he did so, Fauci cited as evidence a new scientific paper. Far from being a conclusive, rigorous scientific study, it was, in fact, a piece of commentary that had been rejected from a prestigious medical journal. This is not to blame Fauci for the pandemic, although his agency may have funded the research which created Covid-19. The culpability truly lies in Wuhan where scientists were pushing the boundaries of acceptable experimentation on coronaviruses to make them more infectious and transmissible to humans." - Sharri Markson - theaustralian.com.au

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:58 a.m. No.20092840   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 19

Julian Assange Indictment and Extradition

>>19822798 Video: Anthony Albanese says he won't ask Joe Biden to intervene in Julian Assange case

>>19829351 Julian Assange’s brother urges Anthony Albanese to ‘up the ante’ over WikiLeaks founder’s case

>>19863987 Gabriel Shipton Tweet: 20 Apr 2022 Morrison government says they won’t interfere in Julian Assanges case - 29 Oct 2023 Albanese says they won’t even ask for intervention. Who do I vote for to get Julian out of prison?!?!

>>19892671 Trumpist Republicans, left-wing Democrats unite to lobby to free Assange

>>19897906 ‘Time for Julian to come home’: Stella Assange pleads with PM Anthony Albanese to bring her husband home

>>19941028 ‘Rage and a hunger for justice’: Assange’s father speaks at pro-Palestine rally - Julian Assange’s father addressed thousands of Palestine supporters as they rallied in Melbourne’s CBD for the sixth weekend in a row to call for an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza

>>20047917 ‘Show some backbone’: call for Albanese to help release Julian Assange - Family and high-profile advocates of Julian Assange have called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to “show some backbone” and fight for the WikiLeaks founder to return home to Australia. Members of the Free Julian Assange Campaign rallied outside of Mr Albanese’s Sydney office in Marrickville in 41C heat on Saturday to express their support and commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

>>20083091 Bipartisan congressional resolution calls on US officials to drop charges against Julian Assange - Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., introduced a resolution expressing that "regular journalistic activities" are protected by the First Amendment and that the U.S. government should end its prosecution against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is accused of publishing classified U.S. military documents. The resolution comes after multiple other bipartisan efforts this year by lawmakers in the U.S. and Assange's home country of Australia demanding the U.S. drop the charges and end its extradition requests.

 

Cardinal George Pell and Vatican Financial Scandal Allegations

>>20066856 Pell’s nemesis insists he will be found not guilty of Vatican fraud - Disgraced cardinal Angelo Becciu has mounted an 11th-hour blitz in the Italian media, insisting he is not a crook and has “faith” he will be acquitted of all charges, from embezzlement and fraud to perverting the course of justice. Cardinal Becciu - nemesis of the late cardinal George Pell – and architect of the sacking of the Vatican’s first independent auditor-general, Libero Milone, not only proclaimed his innocence on the evening news but suggested he was the real victim of forces inside the Holy See who wished to derail Pope Francis’ financial reforms

>>20078586 Pope Francis praises George Pell’s ‘courage’ amid Vatican corruption battle - Pope Francis has urged Vatican officials in charge of financial reform and compliance to show “courage” and “absolute transparency” in the face of wrong­doing and corruption, citing the late Cardinal George Pell and his consecration motto, “be not afraid”, as their inspiration. However, the pontiff also immediately raised eyebrows among observers for the strategic timing of his advice and the request that the audit, and financial officials in the Holy See, balance the need for “absolute transparency” with “merciful discretion” when faced with potential misconduct

>>20087555 Cardinal Angelo Becciu: George Pell’s arch nemesis found guilty of corruption - What would George Pell have thought? The deceased Australian cardinal had engaged in a fraught battle with Cardinal Angelo Becciu for most of his time in the Vatican, when the Victorian’s mandate to clean up the Catholic Church’s finances came head to head with one of the most obstructive cardinals. Now Becciu, 75, on Saturday, has been sentenced to jail for five and a half years and fined 8000 euros for fraud in a rare conviction of a cardinal in the Vatican court. Becciu says he will appeal

>>20087562 George Pell’s archenemy, Angelo Becciu, to fight jail sentence for Vatican embezzlement - Disgraced cardinal and enemy of the late George Pell, Angelo Becciu, will fight his five-and-a-half year jail sentence for embezzlement, as Vatican watchers say his jailing could lead to a “proper clean up” of the highest echelons of the Catholic Church. Judges in the Holy See delivered their verdict late on Saturday and banned Becciu permanently from holding any form of public office and fining him €8,000. Becciu’s lawyer, Fabio Viglione said the cardinal ‘respected’ the verdict on a range of his financial crimes - including embezzlement - but said he would launch an appeal against the sentence

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:58 a.m. No.20092842   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 20

Brittany Higgins Rape Allegations and Bruce Lehrmann Defamation Trial - Part 1

>>19886008 Senator Linda Reynolds, Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz ordered into last-ditch mediation to avoid costly defamation trial - Senator Linda Reynolds, her former staffer Brittany Higgins and Ms Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz will sit face-to-face in a last-ditch mediation ahead of a potentially costly defamation trial. And a host of prominent media figures, as well as federal Labor senator Katy Gallagher, have now been subpoenaed to ­appear as witnesses in the event the matter goes to trial. Senator Reynolds has launched separate defamation actions against Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz over their comments about the senator in the wake of Ms Higgins’ allegations that she was raped by colleague Bruce Lehrmann in the senator’s Parliament House office. Charges against Mr Lehrmann were dropped last year after a mistrial. Justice Solomon has previously urged the parties to do their best to settle the matter, warning of the financial and human cost of a protracted trial.

>>19841269 Bruce Lehrmann fires back at Brittany Higgins after being named as Toowoomba rape accused

>>19957963 Bruce Lehrmann's defamation action against Network Ten, Lisa Wilkinson begins after ABC agree to settle defamation action over a 2022 National Press Club speech by Brittany Higgins

>>19958048 Bruce Lehrmann ‘severely isolated’ after Higgins interview, court told

>>19964194 Bruce Lehrmann case: Curtain up as live-stream followers face judicial warning

>>19964252 Bruce Lehrmann denies raping Brittany Higgins on day two of his defamation action against Network Ten, Lisa Wilkinson

>>19964290 Bruce Lehrmann explains the missing 45 minutes in rape claims

>>19970194 Bruce Lehrmann concedes he bought drinks for Brittany Higgins despite earlier telling Federal Court he could not recall

 

>>19984217 Bruce Lehrmann denies evading questions from chief of staff about Parliament House entry on night of alleged rape

>>19989527 Bruce Lehrmann tells court he believes Brittany Higgins's fiance sent him threatening email titled 'Coming for you'

>>19995409 Brittany Higgins’ emotional evidence at odds with previous statements

>>20001984 Brittany Higgins changes her story on leg bruise photo: ‘Maybe I tripped’

>>20001998 Brittany Higgins breaks down in Federal Court as Bruce Lehrmann's lawyers suggest she made up rape allegation

>>20002007 The moment Brittany Higgins began to break - 'The sobs, once they began, could not be held back'

>>20008196 Brittany Higgins re-wore dress she was allegedly raped in to 'reclaim' it, Federal Court hears

>>20013190 Lehrmann sues Ten: Brittany Higgins admits to circulating ‘incorrect’ media dossier

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:59 a.m. No.20092845   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 21

Brittany Higgins Rape Allegations and Bruce Lehrmann Defamation Trial - Part 2

>>20027621 Higgins, Cash and the secret tape - Brittany Higgins is set to face a gruelling interrogation as Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer pushes to play a covert recording she made of former government minister Michaelia Cash

>>20027636 Video: Brittany Higgins denies trying to 'blow-up' Bruce Lehrmann's re-trial over alleged rape as her evidence concludes in Federal Court

>>20027640 $2.3 million payout goes to the heart of Labor’s role in Brittany Higgins case - It’s taken a defamation trial to discover the truth, but finally we know how much the Albanese government paid to settle Brittany Higgins’ untested claim that she would not be able to work for at least 40 years after allegedly being raped by Bruce Lehrmann

>>20033285 Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins getting 'quite touchy' in club on night of alleged rape, witness tells Federal Court

>>20033308 The ABC paid $150,000 to settle Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case over a National Press Club broadcast, documents tendered in his Federal Court defamation case against Network Ten reveal.

>>20038514 Brittany Higgins bombshell: $2.4m payout based entirely on her own evidence - The Albanese government paid Brittany Higgins more than $2.4 million compensation in a settlement that relied entirely upon Ms Higgins’ version of events, despite contrary versions from key witnesses who were excluded from a single-day mediation of her claim

>>20038528 Higgins didn’t want to be known as ‘the girl raped in Parliament’, ex-boyfriend Ben Dillaway tells court

 

>>20038554 Corruption watchdog examines Brittany Higgins compo payout - The national anti-corruption watchdog is now examining a complaint by former Liberal minister Linda Reynolds against Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus over his handling of the $2.3 million compensation payment made to Brittany Higgins, to determine if an investigation should be launched

>>20043828 Ten has win on lip-reader’s report in Lehrmann defamation case - Network Ten has had a tactical win in its defamation fight with former federal Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann after a Federal Court judge allowed it to tender a lip-reader’s report analysing CCTV footage of Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins in the hours before she alleges he raped her in Parliament House

>>20043857 Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds sues the ACT government and its former top prosecutor Shane Drumgold for defamation

>>20057023 Brittany Higgins a ‘broken soul’, mother tells Lehrmann defamation case - Brittany Higgins’ mother has said her daughter’s alleged sexual assault was “a mother’s worst nightmare” as she gave emotional evidence in court about the changes she perceived in her personality in the months after the alleged rape

>>20062141 ‘Oh Britt, we didn’t know’: Michaelia Cash secretly recorded in call with Higgins - A telephone call Brittany Higgins secretly recorded with her then-boss, Liberal senator Michaelia Cash, has emerged as a flashpoint in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case after it was played for the first time in the Federal Court

>>20062186 Video: Exclusive tapes revealed: Secret audio captures Higgins’ lawyer giving advice to her fiancé in middle of crucial cross-examination - Brittany Higgins’ high-profile lawyer gave suggestions on how she respond to a grilling on her $2.4m commonwealth payout and inconsistencies in her story under tough cross-examination during the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial

>>20066846 Ten producer defends Higgins interview as Lisa Wilkinson’s texts revealed - Angus Llewellyn, producer of Ten’s The Project program has told the Federal Court that Brittany Higgins was terrified her interview with Lisa Wilkinson could be “stopped by the government” before it aired, as he defended his steps to contact Bruce Lehrmann before the broadcast

>>20072114 Wilkinson rankled by ‘tabloid’ suggestion during tense day in Lehrmann case - Prominent journalist Lisa Wilkinson has clashed with Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister during Lehrmann’s high-stakes defamation case as she defended her reporting of Brittany Higgins’ rape claim and was rankled by a question that she alleged portrayed her as a “cheap tabloid journalist”

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 1:59 a.m. No.20092847   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 22

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 1

>>19822796 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese takes AUKUS hopes to new US House Speaker Mike Johnson

>>19859578 Richard Marles’ AUKUS update can’t guarantee nine frigates to be built in Australia

>>19874472 US to send high-level delegation to Australia on AUKUS mission

>>19892647 Video: AUKUS unmanned drone trials amid fresh China warnings - US Defence Department Acting Deputy Under Secretary Mara Karlin warns of “unprofessional and unsafe behaviour” by Chinese forces, revealing the People’s Liberation Army targeted US and allied planes and vessels in almost 300 incidents over two years.

>>19898014 Video: Top Pentagon official assures Australia on AUKUS submarines deal despite congressional difficulties

 

>>19908001 Government to sweep away export barriers in ‘AUKUS revolution’

>>19880140 How Canberra handles AUKUS bears upon future of China-Australia relations - "AUKUS, the trilateral security partnership between the US, UK and Australia, has always been a center of contradiction between Beijing and Canberra. As the knots in the dispute between China and Australia in areas such as trade are slowly untied, if Canberra cannot tackle the issue concerning the AUKUS well and allow itself to continue to be hijacked by the US' policy, this pact is likely to be an impediment to the China-Australia relations. Through AUKUS, the US hopes to make Australia serve its hegemonic strategy. It promises so-called security guarantees to Canberra, but becoming cannon fodder for Washington will be the fate of Australia instead of actually benefiting from the partnership. Therefore, Australia must be highly vigilant about this, asking itself: Is it really a wise decision to rashly fulfill US interests and threaten China's security amid warming China-Australia relations?" - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>19919475 AUKUS deal a ‘target’ for state-sponsored hackers, Australian Signals Directorate warns

>>19973751 Chinese envoy Li Song calls for intergovernmental discussions to address AUKUS risks at International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting

>>19995374 Thousands of STEM spots to be funded in AUKUS push - Thousands of scientifically-inclined students will have their university courses financially covered as the government attempts to nurture the workforce needed to build the long-awaited AUKUS nuclear submarine fleet

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2 a.m. No.20092850   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 23

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 2

>>20001944 Video: Warning AUKUS legislation cedes Australian sovereignty over military technology - Bill Greenwalt, who wrote much of America's defence procurement laws, also claims Australia's draft laws could harm national security in both nations by undermining necessary efforts to reform US export controls

>>20013157 Video: AUKUS partners unveil new space and AI weapons to deal with China’s military aggression - The AUKUS partners have seized the “need for speed” to combat China’s military aggression, unveiling plans to launch autonomous undersea vehicles from submarine torpedo tubes, detect enemy submarines with artificial intelligence, and track deep space threats with advanced radars

>>20013173 New AUKUS space facility being built near Exmouth in Western Australia's remote north-west

>>20022771 US approves $2 billion AUKUS package for Australia - The US State Department has approved the sale of "AUKUS-related Training and Training Devices and related equipment" to Australia for an estimated cost of up to US$2 billion. The decision does not appear to have been publicised by the Australian government. Under the more transparent US system, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency must notify Congress of such sales

>>20038467 Full speed ahead for nuclear subs with US breakthrough in sight - The federal government is confident the United States Congress will agree to authorise the sale of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in a breakthrough deal that overrides doubts the AUKUS pact would weaken the US Navy

 

>>20043932 Republicans and Democrats agree to early 2030s transfer of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia - Congress is poised to pass critical legislation as soon as next week that would bring the AUKUS security pact between the US, Australia and the UK a big step closer to reality, giving the green light to the transfer of nuclear-powered submarines to the navy in the early 2030s

>>20043947 All set for the US to sell Australia three ‘apex predator’ submarines - Australia is set to acquire its first nuclear-powered submarine by 2032 after key members of the United States Congress agreed to fast-track legislation to advance the AUKUS pact

>>20066837 Congress gives US the ammunition to torpedo AUKUS deal - A future US president will have to certify that the transfer of nuclear submarines to Australia will not undermine America’s military capabilities or foreign policy, under draft legislation that offers multiple get-out clauses for any ­coming administrations to scupper the AUKUS agreement

>>20072124 US Senate gives green light to transfer of AUKUS submarines to Australia - The Senate has heard the AUKUS security pact was a “game changing” part of US efforts to contain China in the Indo-Pacific, as it passed critical defence legislation that will enable the transfer of nuclear powered submarines and other advanced technology to Australia from the 2030s. More than 80 senators of the powerful 100-seat chamber had voted in favour of the US$886 billion (AUD $1351bn) Defence Authorisation bill on Wednesday night (Thursday AEDT), paving the way for it to become law by the end of the week after facing a likely successful vote in the House of Representatives tomorrow.

>>20072136 Boris Johnson calls for ‘more AUKUS’ and nuclear power in Australia - Boris Johnson has called for an acceleration of the AUKUS submarine pact and urged Australia to contribute more to the Ukraine war effort, which he called a cost-effective investment to shore up global stability as the world confronts a “new dark age of geopolitics”

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:01 a.m. No.20092854   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 24

Australia / China Tensions - Part 1

>>19822734 Anthony Albanese tells Kamala Harris and Antony Blinken he is ‘clear-eyed’ ahead of Xi meeting

>>19822746 Anthony Albanese China trip just became riskier - "Anthony Albanese’s visit to Beijing next week has just become complicated and even more laden with risk. The message from Washington during the Prime Minister’s visit to the US capital was one of concern that Australia might be going soft on China. How Albanese handles himself when he lands in Beijing has become ever more important. The US has signalled clearly it will be watching very closely. This had added another layer of complexity to an already politically risky excursion. US President Joe Biden himself could not have been less subtle. “Trust and verify” was his publicly stated view about the thawing of relations between Canberra and Beijing, during their press call in the Oval Office." - Simon Benson - theaustralian.com.au

>>19822757 Australia’s understanding of China ties should not be hijacked by US clichés - "The two visits in these two weeks by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, one to the seemingly close security ally the US and the other to the largest trading partner China, will be a major test for him. For the US, allies are to be exploited. Once they cannot help protect US interests, they will be abandoned like worn-out shoes by the US and their interests will not come to US' mind even for a second. Hopefully, Albanese can realize that normal China-Australia relations serve his country's interests. China is an irreplaceable market for Australia, and the US will not make up for the Chinese market Australia might lose due to worsened relations with China. Australia should have a clear understanding of the significance of its relations with China and avoid being hijacked by the US to maximize its interests." - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

 

>>19822772 China's former premier Li Keqiang has died, months after leaving office, state media says - China's former premier Li Keqiang has died from a heart attack, state media reports. Mr Li was premier serving under President Xi Jinping from 2013 until March this year. "Comrade Li Keqiang, while resting in Shanghai in recent days, experienced a sudden heart attack on October 26 and after all-out efforts to revive him failed, died in Shanghai at 10 minutes past midnight on October 27," state broadcaster CCTV reported. An obituary will be published later, CCTV added. The elite Peking University-educated economist was once viewed as a top Communist Party leadership contender, but became increasingly sidelined by Mr Xi in recent years. Mr Li was an advocate for private business but was left with little authority after Mr Xi made himself the most powerful Chinese leader in decades and tightened control over the economy and society. In line with China's official practice, Li Keqiang's farewell ceremony will be held in Shanghai on Friday or Saturday, after which his remains are expected to be transported to Beijing.

>>19822787 Li Keqiang, Chinese ex-premier who helped shape economic policy, dies at 68 - Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang died Friday after suffering heart failure, state media said. He was 68. Li, who served a decade as premier until March, was in Shanghai when he experienced a sudden heart attack on Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report. The former premier died shortly after midnight after “all-out efforts to rescue him failed,” said Xinhua, which didn’t provide further details. Li was the Communist Party’s No. 2 official from 2012 to 2022. He stepped down from his positions in the party leadership at a twice-a-decade party congress in last October, when Chinese leader Xi Jinping secured his third term as the party’s general secretary.

>>19829335 Australia tries to lower China’s expectations ahead of Albanese meeting with Xi

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:02 a.m. No.20092858   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 25

Australia / China Tensions - Part 2

>>19829345 Albanese's visit to serve as booster for ties with China - "An impending visit by Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to China is likely to help improve the relationship between the two countries and promote more collaboration, an expert says. Albanese is expected to be in the country from Nov 4 to 7, when he will attend the sixth China International Import Expo in Shanghai, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. It will be the first visit to China by an Australian prime minister since 2016. On Oct 22 Albanese said it is in Australia's best interest to have good relations with China. "I look forward to visiting China, an important step toward ensuring a stable and productive relationship," he said. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the historic visit to China by the then-prime minister, Gough Whitlam, in 1973. "Whitlam's historic visit laid the groundwork for the diplomatic, economic and cultural ties that continue to benefit our countries today," Albanese said." - Liu Jianqiao - chinadaily.com.cn

>>19841244 Detained Australian Yang Hengjun’s sons’ plea for Anthony Albanese to save their dad

>>19841257 Yang Hengjun’s sons are hoping for another Australian ‘miracle’ in Beijing

 

>>19853606 PM’s China trip cements new era for ties - "Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit China and attend the 6th China International Import Expo from Saturday to Tuesday, marking another historic moment in China-Australia relations and embedding great significance in improving, upholding and further developing our bilateral ties. Albanese’s visit coincides with the 50th anniversary of prime minister Gough Whitlam’s official visit to China. Fifty years ago, Whitlam made distinguished contributions to the establishment and development of diplomatic relations with his sense, vision and wisdom. Over the past five decades, we have been facilitating and furthering exchanges and co-operation between our two sides, leveraging benefits to the peoples of both countries. China-Australia relations are now at a critical juncture of setting off and sailing off again. Xi once highlights that, both viewed as important countries in the Asia-Pacific region, China and Australia need to improve, uphold and develop their relationships. Premier Li Qiang also agrees that a sound and stable China-Australia relationship serves the fundamental interests and common aspirations of the two peoples. China and Australia should focus on the future to better achieve mutual benefits and win-win outcomes. I hope and believe that our two countries will witness steady and sustained progress in the China-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and Albanese’s visit will lay a solid groundwork for us to embrace the 50 years ahead." - Xiao Qian, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Commonwealth of Australia - afr.com

>>19853639 China not a ‘trustworthy partner’, Taiwan warns PM

>>19859407 Trade boom heralds Anthony Albanese’s China trip as lobster ban nears its end

>>19859426 Video: Albanese's visit to China expected to be new start for bilateral ties; relations with China should not be kidnapped by US - "Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is scheduled to start a visit to China from Saturday amid heightened anticipation for the two countries to further stabilize ties. Analysts said that his visit will herald a new chapter of bilateral relations, but also cautioned that many barriers remain and that China-Australia ties shouldn't be kidnapped by the US or anti-Chinese forces. The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that Albanese will pay an official visit to China from Saturday to November 7, and will attend the opening ceremony of the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE) and relevant events. China welcomes Albanese's visit to China, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, noting that this is the first visit to China by Albanese since taking office and also the first visit to China by an Australian prime minister since 2016." - GT staff reporters - globaltimes.cn

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:03 a.m. No.20092859   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 26

Australia / China Tensions - Part 3

>>19859443 Albanese becomes first prime minister to set foot in China in seven years - Anthony Albanese landed in Shanghai shortly after 8pm Saturday (ADST), the first Australian prime minister to visit China since 2016. “It’s very good to be here. I look forward to the visit,” Albanese said in brief remarks after being met by a large group of officials and welcomed by a schoolgirl with a bouquet of flowers. The Australian ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, who has held the Beijing posting since 2019, was at the airport to greet Albanese at the airport alongside the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, and the Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Xie Dong. Asked about his priorities for the trip just before he departed from Darwin on Saturday morning, Albanese said the visit “in itself is a very positive thing” and championed his government’s “stabilisation” of the relationship as having secured the removal of China’s sanctions on a range of Australian exports including hay, timber and barley. “We want to make sure that any impediments between our trade are removed, that they’re done in a constructive way. My approach towards this relationship has been patient, deliberate and measured,” he said. Albanese will meet China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday in Beijing after an appearance at the Great Hall, but will first lead a delegation of Australian businesses to Shanghai’s China International Import Expo, where Premier Li Qiang is set to address attendees.

>>19863965 Anthony Albanese arrives in China, addresses Shanghai trade expo in first official visit by an Australian PM since 2016 - Anthony Albanese has highlighted the shared history of Australia and China, urging the need to eliminate barriers to trade in his first address after arriving in Shanghai. In his remarks opening the China International Import Expo, Chinese Premier Li Qiang repeatedly expressed China's support for a greater opening-up of global markets, saying the nation was ready to enhance cooperation with other countries. "China will always stand on the right side of history, keep up with the progress of the time (and) resolutely oppose unilateralism and protectionism," he said. Since 2020, China has imposed trade sanctions on $20 billion worth of Australian imports, although most have now been lifted. Mr Albanese addressed the expo after Premier Li, highlighting Australia and China's history of trade cooperation and spoke of the need to remove barriers to trade and investment. "In the half century since, both our economies have transformed and modernised and diversified in ways that our predecessors could not have imagined," he said. "Both our nations have benefited from a region that has grown and prospered, become more open and interconnected - a region that has been stable and peaceful. "Along with the other economies in our region, Australia and China have prospered thanks to the certainty and stability that is made possible by rules-based trade."

>>19863978 The ‘forgotten’ Australian locked up in Hong Kong - Gordon Ng, an Australian-Hong Kong dual citizen has been locked up since 2021 on national security charges. His crime: organising an unofficial primary election to help select candidates for Hong Kong’s democratic parties before they were disqualified by Beijing in 2020.

 

>>19869091 Albanese leaves door open for China to join trans-Pacific trade pact

>>19869104 Nice to be in good books with Beijing, but the catch remains - "It didn’t take a trip to China to confirm Canberra has a profoundly different idea to Beijing of what it means to play by the rules of international trade. Xi Jinping’s government, without any embarrassment, has pressed Australia to support its bid to join the high-standard CPTPP trade pact all the way through its three-year trade coercion campaign. It has ramped it up still ­further ahead of the Anthony ­Albanese’s trip. “We have different political systems. We have different values,” the Prime Minister said on Sunday in Shanghai. This gulf has widened markedly during Xi’s 11 years in power. It is the reason Canberra, rightly, has set modest expectations for where the relationship can go from here. Chinese Premier Li Qiang pushed the CPTPP case again on Sunday. His boss Xi will take over China’s trade-pact lobbying on Monday in Beijing." - Will Glasgow - theaustralian.com.au

>>19869125 Albanese to echo Gough Whitlam’s 1973 Beijing visit, ahead of Xi Jinping meeting

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:03 a.m. No.20092860   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 27

Australia / China Tensions - Part 4

>>19869146 China hails ‘new starting point’, Albanese, Xi stabilise relations - China has declared the relationship with Australia to be at a “new starting point” following a historic meeting in Beijing on Monday night between Anthony Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In their first formal meeting since their breakthrough talks in Indonesia a year ago, Mr Xi heralded Mr Albanese’s efforts to repair the relationship. “After taking office, you’ve been working to stabilise and improve relations with China. This shows the great importance you attach to relations with China,” he said. “Now the China Australia relationship has embarked on the right path of improvement and development. I’m heartened to see that a healthy and stable China Australia relationship serves the common interests of our two countries.” He also drew on the visit to China 50 years ago by Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam that kick-started diplomatic relations. “In China we often say when drinking water, we should not forget those who dug the well,” he said. “The Chinese people will not forget prime minister Whitlam for digging the well for us and now, we are embracing a new 50 years in China-Australia relations. “So, your visit this time is highly significant, as it builds on the past and ushers in the future.“

>>19869167 Xi says China and Australia have ‘worked out some problems’ - but trust issues remain - China’s President Xi Jinping has vowed to improve Beijing’s relationship with Australia, putting an end to years of diplomatic isolation that saw all ministerial contact cut off between Australia and its largest trading partner. Xi greeted Albanese in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday just after 8pm (AEDT) with a warm handshake and a rare smile, following years of economic coercion and diplomatic threats that failed to change the Australian government’s positions on national security and human rights. In a veiled reference to disputes that have included human rights crackdowns in Hong Kong, military threats towards Taiwan, bans on Chinese companies in Australia, $20 billion in trade strikes, and several Australians detained in China, Xi said Australia and China “have worked out some problems”. “Now, the China- Australia relationship has embarked on the right path of improvement and development,” he said. “I’m heartened to see that.”

>>19869190 PM’s ‘stability’ babble merely ignores China’s true intent - "Anthony Albanese is holding to the belief that the most mature ­approach to Sino-Australia relations is to co-operate where we can, disagree when we must and ­always act in our national interest. This supposedly pragmatic approach is the government’s way of stabilising relations with China, achieving a “no surprises” approach and leaving behind the turbulence of the Turnbull-Morrison governments. Ditto Penny Wong’s stated desire to work with the US to achieve strategic equilibrium in a “multipolar region”. Both strategies seem considered and nuanced. There is a dangerous element of naive and fuzzy thinking surrounding the Prime Minister’s trip to China and his government’s ­approach to managing this difficult relationship. In international politics, what does it mean to have a stable relationship? Numerous terms come to mind: secure, honest, unchanging, durable, predictable and so on. This is the kind of relationship we would want with the US, Japan, or some of our other Southeast Asian neighbours. It does not and should not apply to a country that’s relentlessly building its power, leverage and position at the expense of Australia, our closest allies and partners and the strategic and economic system more generally. The idea of stability with China can only ever be regarded as a fraud or at least a furphy when the fundamental approach of Beijing is inherently destabilising. This is ­because it is based on strategic ­surprise, escalation and using coercion or inducements to challenge, change or up-end relationships, institutions and norms to advance Chinese interests." - John Lee, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC, and senior adviser to two Australian foreign ministers from 2016-18 - theaustralian.com.au

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:03 a.m. No.20092863   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 28

Australia / China Tensions - Part 5

>>19874369 ‘Very handsome boy’: Anthony Albanese running video goes viral in China - "Anthony Albanese has been dubbed an “old friend” and “very handsome boy” by China’s Premier minutes after the People’s Liberation Army goosestepped and bared bayonets for the Prime Minister in the Great Hall of the People. In an unexpected twist to Mr Albanese’s final day in China, Li Qiang told the Prime Minister that he had become a social media sensation during his three-night trip. “There are many sharing short videos about your trip to China … including a video of you running along the river with a yellow jersey. “People were saying that we have a handsome boy coming from Australia,” Mr Li said. Bizarrely, the video China’s second most senior leader was talking about was taken by me on Sunday morning when I bumped into the Prime Minister during a run on The Bund in Shanghai. I posted it on Twitter and shared it with some Chinese friends on WeChat. As with so much information in the People’s Republic of China, it’s gone on quite a journey. In recent days it has spread all over China’s domestic version of TikTok, Douyin." - Will Glasgow - theaustralian.com.au

>>19874394 Xi meets with Albanese in Beijing, calling PM visit ‘opening future’ - ""Your visit can be described as carrying on the past and opening up the future," Chinese President Xi Jinping told visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Beijing on Monday afternoon, citing the fact that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the trip made by Gough Whitlam, the first Australian leader to visit China. As some commentators have said this is Albanese's "most important overseas trip yet," Chinese analysts believe the significance of his China visit cannot be overstated for Australia's future and for the Albanese administration, and they look forward to more wonderful interactions and visits between the two Asia-Pacific partners. Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, China and Australia have resumed exchanges in various fields and embarked on the right path of improving and developing relations, Xi said, noting that the two countries have no historical grievances or fundamental conflicts of interest, and can be partners of mutual trust and mutual achievement." - Xu Keyue, Xiong Xinyi and Chu Daye - globaltimes.cn

>>19874407 GT Voice: Pragmatic cooperation can quell noise over China-Australia ties - "While there is no doubt that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's visit to China is a symbolic event for China-Australia economic and trade exchanges, and a time to say goodbye to troublesome uncertainties and start a new chapter, the fact that there is still anti-China noise serves as an important reminder that improving mutual trust will require more efforts and an adherence to pragmatic cooperation. In a video interview aired by skynews.com.au on Monday, Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Malcolm Davis told Sky News Australia that China will do whatever is "in its best interest," claiming that Australia will be "exploited by China" wherever possible. At a time when the Australian leader is seeking to stabilize China-Australia relations by injecting more positive energy into bilateral economic exchanges, the analyst's remarks are actually representative of the voices of suspicion and even hostility toward the warming ties with China in Australia. While it is undeniable that there are differences between the two countries in terms of history, culture and political systems, the differences have never been and should not be an obstacle to the development of closer cooperation and partnership. After all, bilateral cooperation is aimed at win-win results based on mutual respect, not changing each other. Of course, since Australia remains a close ally of the US, and politicians in Washington focus increasingly on zero-sum geopolitical competition, how to balance Australia's political and economic interests will undoubtedly test the wisdom of the Albanese government. It is sincerely hoped that Australia can maintain a pragmatic approach to drive bilateral ties back to the normal track, which is also the common wish of the business communities in both countries." - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:04 a.m. No.20092864   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 29

Australia / China Tensions - Part 6

>>19874419 Pandas, lobsters and turkey talk push security to the side - "It suits Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping to keep the Prime Minister’s China visit focused on symbolism rather than substance. The Communist Party-controlled Chinese media is presenting the visit as an opportunity for Australia to atone, in the words of Beijing’s Global Times newspaper, for the “securitisation, politicisation and even demonisation of the bilateral relationship”. The Chinese view is that every problem in the relationship is Australia’s fault. Albanese seems content to go along with that, accepting the Global Times’ faint praise that “the current Labor government is taking measures to gradually return to the mature and pragmatic foreign policy trajectory”. A political risk for Albanese is that he will come out of the visit looking more positive on China than most Australians think is justified. For example, the June Lowy Institute Poll found a remarkable 84 per cent of Australians did not trust China to act responsibly in the world. Only Russia was less trusted. Australians are more than capable of reading the strategic risks in a bellicose China. A military incident in the South China Sea - the result perhaps of repeatedly aggressive and dangerous flying behaviour of Chinese fighter pilots - would make Albanese’s wooing of Xi seem foolhardy. The problem for Albanese is that everyday Australians seem more worried about national security and know an international bully when they see one." - Peter Jennings - theaustralian.com.au

>>19874457 New report by AidData shows full extent of China loans and grants in Pacific, with Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands top recipients

>>19880124 New Australia-China visa deal a boost for education and tourism

>>19880140 How Canberra handles AUKUS bears upon future of China-Australia relations - "AUKUS, the trilateral security partnership between the US, UK and Australia, has always been a center of contradiction between Beijing and Canberra. As the knots in the dispute between China and Australia in areas such as trade are slowly untied, if Canberra cannot tackle the issue concerning the AUKUS well and allow itself to continue to be hijacked by the US' policy, this pact is likely to be an impediment to the China-Australia relations. Through AUKUS, the US hopes to make Australia serve its hegemonic strategy. It promises so-called security guarantees to Canberra, but becoming cannon fodder for Washington will be the fate of Australia instead of actually benefiting from the partnership. Therefore, Australia must be highly vigilant about this, asking itself: Is it really a wise decision to rashly fulfill US interests and threaten China's security amid warming China-Australia relations?" - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>19885981 China Daily editorial: Canberra needs necessary nous to balance ties - "Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's four-day China visit has presented a golden opportunity for Beijing and Canberra to accelerate the defrosting of relations that has been underway since the Albanese government took office. Judging by the outcomes of the China-Australia annual leaders' meeting, which were released on Tuesday, relations are warming up nicely. The two sides agreed to expand bilateral trade, continue political dialogue, deepen people-to-people exchanges and cooperate on various multilateral platforms. An increasingly turbulent world and a divisive political landscape mean it is not easy for the two countries to navigate their relations through the formidable challenges and uncertainties, but that is nothing new and it has always been a test of statesmen's and stateswomen's mettle. For Albanese, the tightrope to be walked is between China and the United States. With Australia being a close ally of the US, he has to not ruffle the feathers of Washington too much while seeking to improve ties with Beijing and not ire Beijing by being perceived as an enabler of the bloc confrontation Washington is trying to impose worldwide in its "competition" with China. What has transpired so far this year suggests that the Australian and Chinese leaders have the necessary nous to keep Washington's hysterics as background noise. If they continue to prove that is the case, the two countries' cooperation has bright prospects." - chinadaily.com.cn

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:04 a.m. No.20092865   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 30

Australia / China Tensions - Part 7

>>19885984 Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on November 8, 2023 - "China is ready to work with Australia to be guided by the important common understandings reached by the leaders, stay committed to the principle of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and seeking common ground while shelving differences, actively implement the outcomes of the visit, further strengthen dialogue and cooperation, deepen political mutual trust, enhance friendship between our peoples, and promote the continued improvement and growth of the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership from this new starting point to deliver more benefits to both countries and peoples and contribute more positive energy to regional and global peace and stability."

>>19924993 Victorian Businessman Di Sanh 'Sunny' Duong's donation to hospital scrutinised at foreign interference trial

>>19925020 Australia’s alliance with the United States has never been more critical in the face of a rising China and geopolitical upheaval in Ukraine and the Middle East, says Lachlan Murdoch, co-chair of News Corp and executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation

>>19931083 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to call Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator as anger in Beijing swirls over Joe Biden’s provocative description of his Asian counterpart

>>19931197 Video: Joe Biden and Xi Jinping meeting ‘will help avoid real conflict’, says Anthony Albanese

>>19931559 Di Sanh Duong trial: Australia’s foreign interference test case ‘not a James Bond film’

>>19936219 China hopes Fiji will continue 'firm' support for Beijing - state media

 

>>19936282 Australian navy divers injured by Chinese warship’s sonar pulses - The federal opposition has demanded Anthony Albanese reveal whether he confronted Xi Jinping at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco over an incident in which Australian navy personnel were injured in an interaction with a Chinese warship. The Australian government waited until after the conclusion of APEC to reveal that divers with the Royal Australian Navy suffered minor injuries after being subjected to sonar pulses from a Chinese warship. The incident occurred off the coast of Japan, with the government confirming the personnel were hurt on Tuesday November 14 - a full day before the Prime Minister left to attend the APEC leaders’ meeting. Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said the Coalition condemned the actions of the People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N), but added that the Albanese government had some “serious questions to answer.”

>>19941078 Government defends Anthony Albanese for not raising Chinese warship sonar incident with Xi Jinping

>>19944806 China's Sonar Ping Harassment Poses Test of Australia's Will - China’s harassment of Australian warship HMAS Toowoomba off the coast of Japan, which reportedly caused minor injuries to naval divers attempting to clear a fishing net from the frigate, is the latest in a string of provocations by China’s military against Australian, American, and Canadian ships and aircraft operating in Asian skies and waters

>>19946706 Anthony Albanese urged to come clean on Xi Jinping talks - Anthony Albanese faces a new political fight over his management of the China relationship and demands to explain whether he expressed disapproval directly to Xi Jinping at APEC after a ­Chinese warship injured Australian navy divers in international waters

>>19946717 Prime minister refuses to say whether he raised Chinese navy's harm of ADF divers with Xi Jinping - Under fire for seemingly failing to raise an incident involving China's navy with its leader Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to detail what told the Chinese leader when given a chance to explain their meeting

>>19946732 Video: Albanese condemns China over ‘dangerous, unprofessional’ use of sonar - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned China for its dangerous use of sonar near Australian navy divers, while refusing to divulge the contents of a conversation with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit

>>19946733 Experts refute Australian charge claiming PLA destroyer's use of sonar 'unprofessional,' question Australian frigate's location, purpose in incident - Liu Xuanzun and Guo Yuandan - globaltimes.cn

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:05 a.m. No.20092866   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 31

Australia / China Tensions - Part 8

>>19951999 Video: ‘Dangerous and unprofessional’: Anthony Albanese addresses sonar naval incident - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the incident involving the use of sonar technology by a Chinese ship against Australian naval divers was “dangerous” and “unprofessional”. Mr Albanese said he addressed the situation with Chinese President Xi Jinping but said it’s not his policy to detail private discussions with world leaders

>>19952003 China urges Australia against ‘irresponsible accusations’ over naval sonar claim

>>19952006 Chinese Defense Ministry rebuts Australia's claims about recent warship interaction - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>19952022 China rejects Australia's claims of 'unsafe and unprofessional' warship encounter - Huang Panyue - mod.gov.cn

>>19952029 Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on November 20, 2023 - "The Chinese military is strictly disciplined and always operates professionally in accordance with the international law and international common practices. We hope relevant parties will stop making trouble in front of China’s doorsteps and work with China to preserve the momentum of improving and growing China-Australia ties."

>>19952040 Alan Tudge ‘wanted to help Chinese’ - Ex-federal minister Alan Tudge believed a $37,000 hospital donation from Sunny Duong - accused of having Chinese Communist Party ties - was an “opportunity” to counter negativity towards Chinese people during the pandemic

>>19946745 US tries to halt Australian property sale by ex-marine's wife - Greens Senator David Shoebridge has questioned if federal police are "just a post box for US authorities" as America attempts to stop the wife of detained ex-military pilot Daniel Duggan selling property to fund his legal bills

 

>>19952049 Daniel Duggan: US court blocking sale of south coast home owned by Aussie ex-marine wanted for conspiracy - The former US Marine Corps aviator allegedly trained Chinese military pilots while working at an international flying academy more than 10 years ago

>>19964102 China gives Australia both wealth and anxiety: Marles - Defence Minister Richard Marles has described China as a source of both national wealth and anxiety, as the opposition demanded Anthony Albanese apologise for not raising with President Xi Jinping last week’s incident between the Australian and Chinese navies

>>19964116 GT Voice: India shouldn’t let Australia derail cooperation with China - "It was really clumsy and unnecessary for Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles to try to strengthen Australia's ties with India by sowing discord between China and India. During his visit to India this week, Marles on Monday described China as a source of both national wealth and anxiety, according to both Indian and Australian media reports. "For both of us, China is our biggest trading partner. For both of us, China is our biggest security anxiety," he said." - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>19970103 ‘We won’t be intimidated’: Australian warship sails through sensitive Taiwan Strait - The Australian warship involved in a dangerous sonar incident with China last week has passed through sensitive waters in the Taiwan Strait while being accompanied by Taiwan’s military. Defence experts said the transit by HMAS Toowoomba, while unlikely to be a direct response to the sonar incident, would send a message to Beijing that Australia would not be deterred from promoting freedom of navigation in international waters. The warship’s passage through the Taiwan Strait was revealed by Taiwan’s Ministry of Defence, raising the profile of a military exercise that would otherwise have been kept secret.

>>19970144 AFP attempt to freeze sale of mansion for US in case of Daniel Duggan is 'lapdog diplomacy', lawyer Glenn Kolomeitz says

>>19970160 US pilot facing extradition drops request for key files - Lawyers for a former pilot battling extradition to the US have dropped an attempt to access key defence and intelligence reports they have said would aid their client's case. Daniel Duggan, an Australian father of six and former US citizen, was arrested at a supermarket car park in central-west NSW in October 2022 after a request from US authorities. In October, his legal team flagged an application to seek key documents from the Department of Defence and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security to demonstrate the extradition request was based on political offences.

>>19973725 Australia and Philippines launch joint patrols in South China Sea - Australia and the Philippines have begun long-awaited joint naval patrols in the South China Sea after months of intensifying friction in the contested waterway.

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:05 a.m. No.20092867   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 32

Australia / China Tensions - Part 9

>>19984250 China paid this Australian influencer. He was told to pick a fight with Mack Horton - Australian swimmer Mack Horton had just won Olympic Gold in Rio de Janiero, but it was not enough to quell the anger inside him. “Drug cheat,” he snipped at silver medallist Sun Yang, the Chinese swimmer who won in London four years earlier and was later suspended for eight years for a drug testing violation. Watching on was David Gulasi, an Australian living in China who had amassed 3.6 million followers on Chinese social media networks Bilibili, Douyin and Xigua for his mix of food blogging, toilet humour and Chinese nationalism. Gulasi’s Chinese influencer-management agency, known as a multichannel network, advised Gulasi to pick a fight with Horton. It was 2016 and China’s influencing machine was just warming up. “I feel ashamed to be of the same nationality as you,” Gulasi said to Horton. “The Chinese need to stand up and stand up for their country.” Dismissed by critics last decade as a naive, cantankerous novelty, Gulasi and a handful of Western social media stars were the first batch of content creators to ride a wave of Chinese nationalism that made them divisive at home and popular in Beijing.

>>19995418 Daniel Duggan: federal agent ‘regrets’ incorrect evidence in ex-US military pilot case, NSW court hears - Daniel Duggan’s lawyer calls for restraining order on property to be thrown out due to ‘unacceptable sequence of events’

>>19995429 Why Rudd rates this alternative to Biden - Kevin Rudd reckons California governor Gavin Newsom, the Democrats’ putative second-choice candidate for the Oval Office next year, is equipped to negotiate the tricky relationship with China

>>20001916 Chinese diplomat’s false claim on sonar blast - One of Beijing’s top diplomats has called for Australian naval vessels to operate with “great prudence” in waters near China after a PLA Navy ship blasted Australian navy divers with its sonar in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Department, Liu Jianchao, claimed incorrectly on Tuesday that the November 14 sonar incident occurred in waters where there is “some kind of dispute between China and Japan”. The claim came ahead of Mr Liu’s scheduled meeting with Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Wednesday, and follows Anthony Albanese’s refusal to say whether he raised the incident with Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC conference. “My question would be, why should an Australian naval ship be travelling to that area?” Mr Liu told an Australia-China Relations Institute event. “China will have to do what it needs to do. But China did it in a very professional way. It did nothing that harms the sailors, the naval people or that ship.”

 

>>20001920 Video: China diplomat lashes out at Australian Navy - One of China's top diplomats has lashed Australia's Navy for venturing into what he claims are contested waters in the South China Sea. Liu Jianchao also disputed claims that Australian divers were injured by a Chinese ship's underwater sonar, telling 9News that Australia should respect the "facts”

>>20001925 Prudence, wisdom from Canberra needed to sustain China-Australia relations thaw - "Australia should not assume it can freely create trouble near China. China poses no threat to Australia's national security, but Australia does by intruding into the South China Sea. If Australia continues its provocations and escalates the situation, there is a possibility of friction and conflict between China and Australia." - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>20001932 China, Australia should be 'cautious of destructive forces' as ties improve - "When China and Australia strive to stabilize and reinvigorate their relations, there are people inside Australia and external forces that do not want the trend to continue,…both Australia and China should cherish the hard-won momentum and be cautious of destructive forces." - Zhang Han - globaltimes.cn

>>20013157 Video: AUKUS partners unveil new space and AI weapons to deal with China’s military aggression - The AUKUS partners have seized the “need for speed” to combat China’s military aggression, unveiling plans to launch autonomous undersea vehicles from submarine torpedo tubes, detect enemy submarines with artificial intelligence, and track deep space threats with advanced radars

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:06 a.m. No.20092869   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 33

Australia / China Tensions - Part 10

>>20022741 Widened AUKUS deal includes AI, space techs against China, triggering arms race fear - "Using the "China threat" as an excuse to build hegemony, the US, the UK and Australia are reportedly expanding their AUKUS military cooperation from nuclear-powered submarines to anti-submarine systems featuring drones and artificial intelligence (AI) as well as space tracking, all of which are sensitive fields that risk triggering an arms race, experts warned on Sunday." - Liu Xuanzun - globaltimes.cn

>>20033314 Former US pilot Daniel Duggan loses legal bid to stop forfeiture of home near Kiama - A former US marine pilot fighting extradition to America has lost his legal bid to stop the forfeiture of his family's property on the NSW south coast. Daniel Duggan, an Australian citizen, is being held in a maximum-security jail west of Sydney, accused by the US of training Chinese military pilots. He faces US charges of conspiracy, arms trafficking and money laundering, allegations he denies. Mr Duggan's wife, Saffrine, was trying to sell the family's multi-million-dollar estate at Saddleback Mountain, near Kiama, to fund his legal costs. But in October, a US judge ordered the restraint and forfeiture of the property, saying it "constitutes or is derived from" the proceeds of crime.

>>20033328 Daniel Duggan: wife ‘devastated’ as court blocks bid to sell NSW property to fund defence of pilot wanted in the US The wife of an Australian pilot wanted in the US over allegations he accepted lucrative contracts to illegally train Chinese naval pilots will not be able to sell her New South Wales property to fund his legal battle. Daniel Duggan is being held in prison in NSW while he fights extradition over charges of conspiracy, arms trafficking and money laundering relating to allegations he accepted cash to train Chinese military pilots more than a decade ago. The NSW supreme court on Wednesday dismissed a bid by Duggan’s lawyers to prevent the Australian federal police from seizing a multimillion-dollar property owned by his wife, Saffrine. Saffrine had put the “Bundaleer” acreage on the NSW south coast, where she and her husband were building a house, on the market to help pay his lawyers before the AFP applied to seize it on behalf of the US on 31 October.

>>20044050 China’s Xi goes full Stalin with purge - "Something is rotten in the imperial court of Chairman Xi Jinping. While the world is distracted by war in the Middle East and Ukraine, a Stalin-like purge is sweeping through China’s ultra-secretive political system, with profound implications for the global economy and even the prospects for peace in the region. The signals emanating from Beijing are unmistakable, even as China’s security services have ramped up repression to totalitarian levels, making it almost impossible to know what is really happening inside the country. The unexplained disappearance and removal of China’s foreign and defense ministers - both Xi loyalists who were handpicked and elevated mere months before they went missing earlier this year - are just two examples." - politico.eu

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:06 a.m. No.20092870   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 34

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 1

>>19829381 Paedophile teacher David Ernest Keith MacGregor kept Victorian Education Department job for seven years after conviction

>>19841375 Catholic church loses landmark case over tactics that shield it from Australian abuse claims - The Catholic church has lost a landmark case over its controversial use of the deaths of paedophile priests to thwart survivors’ attempts at justice. The high court on Wednesday delivered a significant blow to the church’s use of permanent stays in historical abuse matters, where it has sought to argue that delay, the death of perpetrators, and the loss of records render it unable to receive a fair trial. Earlier this year, a Guardian investigation found that the church was now routinely using permanent stays in cases where perpetrators have died, either to defeat active claims before the courts or to low-ball survivors in settlement negotiations. The tactic is causing profound harm to an already vulnerable group. One survivor, known as GLJ, whose case for compensation was permanently stayed, asked the high court to intervene and allow her case to proceed. GLJ alleges she was abused as a 14-year-old by Lismore priest Father Clarence Anderson. Anderson died in 1996, well before GLJ’s complaint, and the Lismore diocese argued it was put in an unfair position, unable to properly investigate the allegation or mount a defence. The church says it was left “utterly in the dark” on whether the abuse occurred. But GLJ’s lawyers say the church had held evidence about his abuse of other children from 1971, the year of his defrocking, and had ample opportunity to investigate his conduct more broadly in the 25 years prior to his death. Instead, it did nothing, her lawyers say. The high court on Wednesday ruled in GLJ’s favour, saying permanent stays should only be granted in “exceptional” cases.

>>19841396 AFP blocks 10 child abuse websites using internet domain for Cocos (Keeling) Islands - Federal police have shut down a network of websites responsible for distributing hundreds of thousands of child abuse pictures and videos through an internet domain connected to a tiny island off the Australian coast.

>>19863709 Virginia Democrat Pushed ‘After-School Satan Club’ And Has A Fixation On The ‘Demonic’ - A Democrat candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates in next month’s election has sought to bring an After School Satan Club into schools, raised money for the Satanic Temple, and written books about the occult for children. Jeremy D. Rodden is the Democrat-endorsed candidate for next month’s statehouse elections in Virginia, running for the 90th District near Chesapeake. In November 2022, Rodden posted a flier to his campaign Facebook page that said, “Hey kids! Let’s have fun at After School Satan Club!” The flier said it is sponsored by the Satanic Temple and would take place at the B.M. Williams Primary School in Chesapeake. Rodden wrote: “I can’t wait to sign up my second grader for this after school club! Fellow BM Williams parents, let me know if you plan on signing up your kiddos and if you need any help with carpooling/transportation. Note for those who don’t know: this club does not practice any religious indoctrination whatsoever, unlike some of the other clubs offered at this school and at schools throughout Chesapeake Public Schools.” When he’s not running for public office, Rodden authors books aimed at putting “demonic” themes in front of young children. Books he has authored or contributed to include “Demonic Carnival: First Ticket’s Free,” “Demonic Household,” “UnCommon Evil: A Collection of Nightmares, Demonic Creatures, and UnImaginable Horrors,” and “Demonic Wildlife.” Rodden’s social media comments demonstrate not just a desire to ensure that various religions, or the right to practice no religion at all, are respected, but rather a deep and overriding disgust with Christianity. “#FreedomOfReligion is #FreedomFromReligion,” he wrote. He did not return a request for comment.

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:07 a.m. No.20092872   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 35

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 2

>>19863712 Q Post #4545 - Humanity is good, but, when we let our guard down we allow darkness to infiltrate and destroy. Like past battles fought, we now face our greatest battle at present, a battle to save our Republic, our way of life, and what we decide (each of us) now will decide our future. Will we be a free nation under God? Or will we cede our freedom, rights and liberty to the enemy? If America falls so does the world. If America falls darkness will soon follow. Only when we stand together, only when we are united, can we defeat this highly entrenched dark enemy. This is not about politics. This is about preserving our way of life and protecting the generations that follow. We are living in Biblical times. Children of light vs children of darkness. United against the Invisible Enemy of all humanity. Q - https://qanon.pub/#4545

>>19886060 AFL club Western Bulldogs ordered to pay $5.9m to child sexual abuse victim Adam Kneale

>>19892471 (2017) EPL clubs caught up in UK abuse scandal - Five English Premier League and three Championship (second tier) soccer clubs are being investigated in relation to allegations of widespread historical child sex abuse in the sport dating back to the 1970s

>>19892691 Greens MLA Johnathan Davis referred to police over teen sex allegations

>>19898079 The Catholic Church said an abuse victim deserved $250,000. A jury gave him $3 million - A Victorian jury has delivered a stinging rebuke to the Catholic Church, awarding $3.3 million to the victim of a notorious paedophile after the church argued compensation should be only $250,000

>>19898130 Western Bulldogs could face further lawsuits over sexual predator, lawyer says

>>19859708 Ghislaine Maxwell Forced to Represent Herself in Court as She Sues Jeffrey Epstein Estate for Millions

 

>>19903708 Ghislaine Maxwell's notorious £1.75M London mews house where Prince Andrew was 'snapped with 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre' is being renovated

>>19903744 Video: After-school Satan Club at Lebanon Elementary School raises eyebrows in town - "There are concerns over a new after-school club in Lebanon. The "Satan Club" is set to meet at Lebanon Elementary School starting next month and that's gotten the attention of parents. Organizers say it's not what you think. “There’s just a lot of people that just don’t want to hear what we’re about. They don’t want to hear what we believe," June Everett said. Everett is the campaign director for the after-school program of the satanic temple. She said they view Satan as a literary figure. “We look at Satan as a symbol of being the ultimate rebel and standing up against tyrannical authority,” she said. Everett said the club was requested by a parent and got district approval this week to operate. But, it doesn’t involve any religion. Everett said instead, kids will be doing activities that focus on science and rationalization while building empathy and tolerance for all creatures, and she wants to push back on misconceptions. “We do not worship the devil. We’re not sacrificing goats or babies. We are simply having equal access to the space that we have a right to,” she said." - Jeremy Chen - nbcconnecticut.com

>>19903744 Q Post #3967 - These people are pure evil. This is not about politics. You are ready. Q - https://qanon.pub/#3967

>>19919488 Victorian man Jonathon Lester Edwards planned to abuse baby, caught with 6,300 child sexual abuse files, jailed for 20 months

>>19919500 Inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in Victorian primary schools hears Education Department organised an internal transfer for paedophile teacher, David Ernest Keith MacGregor, after he was convicted of indecent assault in 1985

>>19941121 Multi-million Catholic Church payout 'massively important' for future sexual abuse cases - Legal experts say a record $3.3 million payout awarded by a Victorian jury to the victim of paedophile priest Vincent Kiss could change the way victims of sexual abuse in the church are compensated

>>19946788 Western Bulldogs not insured for record $5.9m damages payout - The Western Bulldogs have no insurance to cover the record $5.9 million damages payout awarded by the courts for historic sex abuse by a club volunteer in the 1980s. The club immediately declared its intent to appeal the verdict and damages awarded in the case when handed down last Thursday.

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:07 a.m. No.20092875   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 36

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 3

>>19946835 World's largest child sexual abuse perpetration prevalence study recommends significant investment in early intervention measures - The first nationally representative research into the prevalence of child sexual offending behaviours and attitudes has shed unprecedented light on sexually abusive behaviours and feelings among Australian men. Released by UNSW Sydney and Jesuit Social Services, the study reveals that of the community sample surveyed, one in five Australian men reported sexual feelings towards children and/or have sexually offended against children, with one-third of those who have thoughts towards children motivated to access help. The largest study of its kind ever undertaken globally, "Identifying and understanding child sexual offending behaviour and attitudes among Australian men", measures the prevalence of risk behaviours and attitudes regarding child sexual offending among a representative sample of 1,945 Australian men aged 18 to over 65.

>>19952108 Video: Queensland teacher Gregory Norman faces hundreds of child abuse charges - A teacher charged with more than 200 exploitation offences relating to 24 girls was arrested just weeks after child protection group Bravehearts visited local schools. Teacher Gregory Steven Norman, 35, faced Cairns Magistrates Court on Monday where prosecutors alleged they found 260,000 child exploitation images on his electronic devices. He was first charged with five offences on November 10 after police followed a tip-off and swooped on a school to arrest the Redlynch teacher and seize his technology devices. Investigators from the Queensland Police Service’s internationally renowned Task Force Argos assisted with further investigations that led to another 200 charges on Saturday.

>>19952116 Cairns teacher Greg Norman fronts court on child abuse charges - A teacher from Redlynch has been charged with more than 200 child sex offences involving at least 24 girls after 260,000 exploitation images were allegedly found on his electronic devices. Detectives arrested 35-year-old Greg Norman after allegedly finding additional child exploitation material on his electronic devices on November 18 after Cairns Child Protection and Investigation Unit detectives executed a search warrant and seizing electronic devices belonging to Mr Norman on November 10. Mr Norman applied for bail in court on Monday before a packed galley of parents and relatives of the alleged victims.

>>19964342 Notorious paedophile school teacher and football coach Darrell Ray dies with court date looming - Notorious paedophile Darrell Vivian Ray has died, denying abuse survivors closure that might have come from imminent criminal court proceedings against the former school librarian and sports coach.

>>19970226 ‘Predatory’ former MP Milton Orkopoulos learns fate for child sex abuse offences - Disgraced former MP and twice-convicted pedophile Milton Orkopoulos has been jailed for 20 years for “calculated, predatory, and manipulative” child sex offences. The former NSW Labor member for Swansea and minister for Aboriginal affairs appeared in the NSW District Court on Friday to learn his fate for sexually abusing four boys between 10 and 15 years old. Earlier this year, a jury determined he was guilty of 26 charges relating to the sexual abuse of the boys in the Lake Macquarie region and on the NSW Mid North Coast between 1993 to 2003. The court was told the 66-year-old used his powerful position in the community to groom his victims and ply them with drugs before abusing them. On Friday, Judge Jane Culver sentenced him to at least 13 years behind bars, with a maximum sentence of 20 years, for the “calculated, predatory and manipulative” offences.

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:08 a.m. No.20092878   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 37

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 4

>>19978129 Video: ‘After School Satan Club’ sparks controversy in Lebanon - "An unsanctioned “After School Satan Club” for elementary school children has raised more than a few eyebrows in the Town of Lebanon. A Salem, MA based group that calls itself The Satanic Temple said the club will launch at Lebanon Elementary School on Dec. 1. It says it’s not what parents might think. “ASSC volunteers are ready to create a fun and inviting place for students to learn and make new friends,” the group posted to social media. Outraged parents in the community have been forwarding the temple’s social media post to Channel 3." - Rob Polansky and Hector Molina - wfsb.com

>>19978141 Video: 'After School Satan Club' to open at elementary school, sparking controversy among parents - "A new "Satan" club plans to start meeting in December at an elementary school in Connecticut. A flyer was released showing that an "After School Satan Club" will start meeting at Lebanon Elementary. The flyer has become the talk of the town and has led to a growing controversy on whether it should be allowed on school grounds. Amy Bourdon is a member of a local parents choice advocacy group and she said that the club has no place at an elementary school. "They're trying to use events like this to recruit children at a young age and steer them away from religion," said Amy Bourdon." - CNN Newsource - local12.com

 

>>19978146 After School Satan Club is signing up students at a CT elementary school to counter Good News Club - "Christian and satanist organizations that sponsor after-school clubs throughout the nation - the latter often swooping in to counter the Christians' message - have made a small town in eastern Connecticut the latest center of their epic struggle. The Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple recently announced a new After School Satan Club at Lebanon Elementary School, the same school where the Warrenton, Missouri-based Child Evangelism Fellowship has been running a Good News Club. The After School Satan Club ("Educatin' with Satan" is the motto) is to hold its first session at the school on Dec. 1. Nine students have signed up, with their parents' permission, and five adults, including two leaders of the regional Satanic Temple, have volunteered as activity leaders, club campaign director and Satanic Temple minister June Everett said Monday." - Jesse Leavenworth - ctinsider.com

>>19978161 An after-school Satan Club is starting in Lebanon and the district says they have no choice but to allow it - "What would you do if your child came home from school and said they wanted to join the Satan Club? It’s a reality in the small New London County town of Lebanon. Lebanon Elementary School is where on Dec. 1, about 9 kids got permission slips from their parents to join the after-school Satan Club. The district said it has no choice but to allow it. “I don’t agree with it at all and I couldn’t imagine my kids coming home and telling me this is going on at the school. I would probably take them out,” said Nicole Starr of Lebanon. “We are Satanists. We’re proud to be Satanists and our goal is to not make our name more palatable to the masses,” said June Everett, the national director of the after-school Satan Club." - Matt Caron - fox61.com

>>19978169 Students in CT town have choice of Satan or Bible club. Why it’s not really good against evil - "Elementary school children in the town of Lebanon will be able to join the After School Satan Club starting Dec. 1. According to June Everett of Colorado, campaign director for the clubs, the Satan Club was requested by a parent from Lebanon Elementary School as an alternative to the Good News Club that meets there. It’s sponsored by the Satanic Temple, an atheist group. Everett said it’s the first Satan Club in Connecticut. There’s nothing evil about the club, Everett said. “We identify with the statement that is in John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost,’ where Satan stands up to the adversary and is essentially the ultimate rebel standing up for the rights of the other angels and the other people,” she said." - Ed Stannard - courant.com

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:08 a.m. No.20092879   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 38

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 5

>>19978195 Lehigh Valley school district will pay $200,000 to settle lawsuit over After School Satan Club - "Saucon Valley School District has reached a settlement with The Satanic Temple in a lawsuit alleging the district discriminated against students by barring them from allowing an After School Satan Club to use a school building earlier this year. In a news release Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union said The Satanic Temple Inc. reached a settlement with Saucon Valley, and the district agreed to pay $200,000 in attorney fees. The fees will be paid by the district’s insurance, and not the taxpayers, according to the district solicitor. Under the settlement, the district must give The Satanic Temple and the After School Satan Club, which The Satanic Temple sponsors, the same access to school facilities that other similar organizations have. The ACLU filed the lawsuit in March, after the district rescinded its approval to allow the club to meet. The club says it does not believe in Satan, but uses the figure as a symbol of reason, independence and free thought." - Chris Dornblaser - timesherald.com

>>19978223 Video: After School Satan Club, Saucon Valley School District weigh in after district settles with group that founded club - "The After School Satan Club is here to stay in the Saucon Valley School District. A new settlement has the district paying the group that founded the club $200,000 for legal expenses, and allowing it the same access to district facilities as any other club. Back in February we first learned the After School Satan Club was planning to hold meetings at Saucon Valley Middle School. Then the school district received a shooting threat related to the club, and shortly thereafter the district announced it was revoking the club's approval. So, the ACLU sued the district on behalf of the After School Satan Club, and now almost nine months later, the district agreed to settle." - Rob Manch - wfmz.com

>>19978223 Q Post #1832 - Re_read drops re: Haiti. At some point it will not be safe for them to walk down the street. PURE EVIL. HOW MANY IN WASHINGTON AND THOSE AROUND THE WORLD (IN POWER) WORSHIP THE DEVIL? Conspiracy? Fake News? The World is WATCHING. Q - https://qanon.pub/#1832

 

>>19978235 Video: Saucon Valley School District to pay $200,000 settlement in 'After School Satan Club' lawsuit - "The Saucon Valley School District has reached a settlement with The Satanic Temple after blocking the After School Satan Club from meeting on its campus" - WNEP

>>19978244 Video: Lebanon Board of Ed hears support, criticism of After School Satan Club - "A controversial club is up for discussion again in Lebanon. Parents spoke up during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting about the After School Satan Club which is set to start next month at the elementary school. “To me, there’s nothing more truly American than exercising my rights.” A right Julie Valvo of Lebanon exercised, when she requested the creation of an After-School Satan Club (ASSC) at Lebanon Elementary School. She spoke up for the first time Tuesday at a Board of Education meeting. “My goal in starting the club is to create a more diverse balance to our offered extracurricular activities,” she said. Valvo said the group was created in reaction to a Christian group, The Good News Club, meeting at the same campus, outside of school hours. She cited a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that she said allows both clubs to exist at the elementary school. The club drew support from others in the room, but also concern from some parents. “I don’t think this kind of material needs to be in the hands of my 5 year old. I was really upset when I saw it and I’m kind of upset now,” Tom Buckley, of Lebanon, said." - Jeremy Chen - nbcconnecticut.com

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:09 a.m. No.20092882   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 39

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 6

>>19978252 Video: Lebanon Board of Education hears concerns, support for After-School Satan Club at elementary school - "Parents were fired up on Tuesday night at the Lebanon Board of Education meeting over a controversial club for students. The After-School Satan Club is coming to Lebanon Elementary School on Dec. 1 but some parents are trying to prevent that. “I just can’t believe I’m here talking about this,” said parent Tom Buckley, whose child attends Lebanon Elementary School. “I don’t think this kind of material needs to be in the hands of my 5-year-old.” Everybody who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting addressed the satanic club. The first speaker was Julie Valvo who said she requested the club move to the small town to create a more diverse balance of extra-curricular activities and is looking forward to helping run it. “The current frenzy in our community over the club’s name and cartoon mascot only solidifies the need of such a rational and science-based club to exist,” Valvo said. She said 12 kids are signed up so far. Despite their name, the club said they do not worship the devil. The Satanic Temple, based out of Salem Massachusetts, currently operates these after-school clubs in eight states. The Satanic Temple’s campaign director June Everett said they view Satan as a literary figure who represents rejecting government cruelty and supporting the human mind and spirit." - Brittany Schaefer - wtnh.com

>>19978252 Q Post #4545 - Humanity is good, but, when we let our guard down we allow darkness to infiltrate and destroy. Like past battles fought, we now face our greatest battle at present, a battle to save our Republic, our way of life, and what we decide (each of us) now will decide our future. Will we be a free nation under God? Or will we cede our freedom, rights and liberty to the enemy? If America falls so does the world. If America falls darkness will soon follow. Only when we stand together, only when we are united, can we defeat this highly entrenched dark enemy. This is not about politics. This is about preserving our way of life and protecting the generations that follow. We are living in Biblical times. Children of light vs children of darkness. United against the Invisible Enemy of all humanity. Q - https://qanon.pub/#4545

>>19978610 The horror story of paedophile Beaumaris Primary teacher David MacGregor has finally been laid bare - "The Board of Inquiry's unsparing examination last week of David MacGregor's career as a Victorian Education Department employee achieved several valuable things. It validated, if at times infuriated, a silent cohort of brave survivors. In vivid, horrifying detail, it exposed scarcely believable negligence on behalf of MacGregor's employer, revealing the "mechanism" by which a paedophile teacher was effectively protected for his abuse of students. There is a feeling among survivors who've submitted to the inquiry, that importantly, the airing of MacGregor's dark history has shown that hundreds more tales of dangerous incompetence will remain hidden from the public until a further-reaching independent panel can compel tightly guarded evidence about every other known abuser in the Victorian government's archives. Survivors told ABC Investigations that every other survivor of state school abuse deserves the sort of answers MacGregor's victims have belatedly been given in the last few weeks. Until that happens, they say, it cannot be said that the Victorian Education Department has experienced a reckoning. And it cannot be claimed the department has fully "heard" survivors." - Russell Jackson - abc.net.au

>>20008413 Catholic Church to pay extra $850k to abuse survivor after Supreme Court ruling - An abuse survivor will receive nearly an extra $1m in compensation as a Supreme Court judge rejected a bid by the Catholic Church to have the payout slashed. In a landmark verdict earlier this month, a jury awarded $3.3m to a survivor of convicted pedophile priest Vincent Kiss - the largest payout by the Catholic Church in Australian history and the first civil trial to be tested before jurors, according to the victim’s lawyers. The victim, known as TJ, was awarded $1.3m in exemplary damages, also known as punitive damages which punish a defendant for its conduct, in addition to $2.06m for pain, suffering and economic loss. The church tried to have the payout reduced, arguing it was not up to the jury to return a verdict on exemplary damages. But Supreme Court Justice Stephen O’Meara on Thursday ruled against the church, finding they were liable for exemplary damages while also awarding $852,353 interest for pain, suffering and economic loss.

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:10 a.m. No.20092885   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 40

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 7

>>20013221 'Proud satanists' help launch Connecticut elementary school's first After School Satan Club meeting - "There's a popular, yet somewhat dated song that tells the tale of the devil going down to Georgia. Now, according to some opponents of the After School Satan Club, he's making a side trip to Lebanon, Connecticut. Members of the Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple made the two-hour drive down from their headquarters Friday to help launch the first meeting of the After School Satan Club at Lebanon Elementary School. This is the first such group in Connecticut and the ninth around the country, according to the organization. The club is being launched in this eastern Connecticut farming community in response to the presence of the Good News Club, which is operated by the Warrenton, Missouri-based Child Evangelism Fellowship, in the same local school. The fellowship has more than 3,000 groups around the country and 80,000 around the world, its officials say. "We don't go into any school unless there's another religious club operating," club campaign director and Satanic Temple minister June Everett said Friday, adding that their goal is not to turn children towards satanism, but to offer an alternative to Christian-based clubs in schools." - Steven Goode - ctpost.com

>>20013240 After School Satan Club holds first meeting at Lebanon Elementary School - "A club raising eyebrows in Lebanon wrapped up its first meeting Friday. The After School Satan Club met at Lebanon Elementary School. It has drawn support, criticism and even possible legal action. “We had a great turnout. We had a lot of parents that hung around just for the first meeting to kind of see what the kids are doing,” June Everett, national director of the After School Satan Clubs, said. The After School Satan Club is officially underway. The club held its first meeting on Friday with 12 students signed up. Outside of the building, an impromptu prayer was held. “We’re here to pray against the evil, the evil spirits that are here and have been brought into this school and putting our children in danger,” Claudia Catani, of Niantic, said." - Jeremy Chen - nbcconnecticut.com

>>20013272 Video: After School Satan Club holds first meeting in Lebanon - "The After School Satan Club has caused massive controversy in the rural town of Lebanon. Friday was the club’s first meeting at Lebanon Elementary. Some parents are furious, while others have signed their kids up. “A lot of people get riled up with the name Satan, we understand that,” said June Everett, Campaign Director for the After School Satan Club. Everett drove from headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts for the club’s first meeting in Lebanon. “We’re not going after people’s children who want nothing to do with us. We don’t want them there,” Everett said. The club is undoubtedly controversial, mostly because of its name and association with the Satanic Temple. But Everett said students in Lebanon won’t be worshipping the devil at club meetings. “We have some STEM activities, we’re going to be doing friendship bracelets,” said Everett. The club flyer said it does not attempt to convert children to any religious ideology but supports kids to think for themselves, calling Satan a literary figure." - Dylan Fearon - wfsb.com

>>20013272 Q Post #4465 - Biblical Times. Q - https://''qanon.pub/#4465''

>>20057051 Ballarat on its way to establish a memorial of national significance acknowledging all victims of sexual abuse - Ballarat was an epicentre for institutional child sexual abuse for many decades in the 20th century. The regional Victorian city, 115 kilometres west of Melbourne, is where some of Australia's most notorious paedophile priests, including Gerald Ridsdale, Robert Best, and Edward Dowlan worked. Their crimes continue to have devastating effects throughout the entire community. Now the city is creating the first Australian memorial to acknowledge all survivors of sexual abuse, as part of a journey of healing. The project's drivers hope it will become a place of national significance, and an example of global best practice in memorialising trauma.

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:11 a.m. No.20092890   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#33 - Part 41

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 8

>>20078523 New Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane Jeremy Greaves breaks decades of silence on being sexually abused - It took Jeremy Greaves three decades to come to grips with what happened to him as a teenager and only now, the day of his installation as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, is he willing to speak openly about the sexual abuse he endured. The 54-year-old father of three wants to share his story so that other survivors will know his heart is in the right place, that he is serious when he promises to do better by those who have suffered at the hands of predatory priests and church workers. Archbishop Greaves was “14 or 15” when he was sexually assaulted by a scouts leader in Adelaide in the early 1980s and kept the terrible secret to himself until about eight years ago, when he finally went to South Australian police. He’s not yet ready to publicly detail the abuse. But it turned out his accused assailant was a convicted sex offender who allegedly preyed on other children around the time he entered the paedophile’s orbit.

>>20078571 Two alleged abuse survivors win first challenge against Australian Catholic church’s legal tactics - Two abuse survivors have won the first major challenge to the Catholic church’s use of permanent stays since a high court decision in October. Earlier this year, two survivors, one of whom is dying, were blocked from suing the Armidale diocese over abuse they allege they suffered from alleged prolific paedophile priest David Joseph Perrett. Police investigated their allegations and found enough evidence to charge Perrett, but he died in 2020 while awaiting trial for more than 100 offences relating to the abuse of almost 40 young children. His death also prompted the church to seek and obtain a permanent stay - or a permanent halt to proceedings - which stopped the pair’s civil proceedings by arguing the passage of time and loss of witnesses left it unable to have a fair trial. In October, the high court gave a significant repudiation of such tactics in the case of a separate abuse survivor, known as GLJ, whose case the Lismore diocese had been successfully halted on similar grounds. The high court ruled that permanent stays should only be made in “exceptional” historical abuse cases and any other use of stays would bring the administration of justice into disrepute. The first major test of the high court’s decision came on Friday, when the two survivors asked the NSW court of appeal for leave to appeal against the permanent stay that was blocking them from suing the Armidale diocese. They argued the high court’s decision had fundamentally changed the legal principles around permanent stays and “confined the circumstances in which a stay would be ordered”. The church argued the high court’s decision had not changed anything. The NSW court of appeal disagreed and granted the pair the leave to appeal against the permanent stay. It said that the high court’s decision “must be taken to have changed the law”. The court found that the death of Perrett does not necessarily render any civil trial to be unfair to the church.

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:16 a.m. No.20092902   🗄️.is 🔗kun

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Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:17 a.m. No.20092909   🗄️.is 🔗kun

THREAD ARCHIVES

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Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:30 a.m. No.20092945   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2951 >>8432 >>8441 >>3761 >>3774 >>8466 >>8473 >>4415 >>9265

Brittany Higgins's former chief of staff Fiona Brown allowed to give evidence in closed court session

 

Patrick Bell - 18 December 2023

 

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The former political staffer to whom Brittany Higgins says she first disclosed her rape allegation has been allowed to give evidence in a closed session this afternoon, as part of Bruce Lehrmann's defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.

 

The court heard Ms Brown was the first person to whom Ms Higgins disclosed her alleged rape as she was the senior political staffer in the office of Senator Linda Reynolds – for whom both Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann worked – at the time of the alleged rape at Parliament House in March 2019.

 

Mr Lehrmann is suing over an interview Ms Wilkinson did with Ms Higgins on The Project, in which he was not named as the alleged rapist, but claims he was identifiable.

 

He launched the action after the collapse of his criminal trial due to juror misconduct, with no findings against him.

 

The court was today presented with two medical reports which outlined the potential adverse effects on Ms Brown's mental health, if she were to give evidence in open court, and while the live stream on the Federal Court's YouTube channel was active.

 

At points in the case, the live stream has had more than 20,000 viewers.

 

Justice Michael Lee ruled that the live stream could be deferred during Ms Brown's testimony.

 

He ruled that members of the media would be allowed to observe her evidence, but otherwise the court would be closed to the public.

 

Doctor challenged over Brittany Higgins's level of intoxication

 

Earlier today, a forensic toxicologist was challenged on his estimate of how intoxicated Ms Higgins was on the night in question.

 

Dr Michael Robertson prepared a report which estimated her blood alcohol content (BAC) to be about 0.23 at 1:50am when she entered Parliament House, based on the number of drinks she is believed to have consumed, how much she had eaten, and factors such as her height and weight.

 

The court was shown CCTV footage from The Dock – the Canberra pub Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann attended on the night – in which she is seen swaying and stumbling at 10:08pm.

 

At this time, Dr Robertson estimated her BAC to be 0.11.

 

The court was later shown CCTV of the pair entering Parliament House, in which Mr Lehrmann's barrister Steven Whybrow suggested she showed similar signs of intoxication to the clip from four hours earlier.

 

When Ms Higgins can be seen standing on one foot as she removed her shoes for the metal detector, Mr Whybrow suggested "for somebody who had drunk a lot of alcohol, [that] would be a fairly complex exercise".

 

Dr Robertson agreed with Mr Whybrow that the vision showed "no overt signs of gross intoxication".

 

But he told the court Ms Higgins's "drinking history" that he was asked to assume in his report suggested a much higher level of intoxication than earlier in the night.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:33 a.m. No.20092951   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20092945

 

2/2

 

Brittany Higgins's demeanour changed after alleged rape

 

The Federal Court has also heard Ms Higgins went from being a "go-getter" to becoming much "testier" in the aftermath of her alleged rape at Parliament House in 2019.

 

The Queensland state MP she first worked for, Bonney MP Sam O'Connor, today also gave evidence to Mr Lehrmann's defamation trial.

 

Mr O'Connor said Ms Higgins disclosed her alleged rape to him while she was working in Perth during the 2019 federal election campaign, about three weeks after the night in question.

 

"I absolutely remember the word rape, that's not something that you forget," Mr O'Connor said.

 

He told the court prior to moving to Canberra, he would describe Ms Higgins as "a real go-getter".

 

"Her dream job was to be a press secretary, a media adviser in Canberra," he said.

 

"She really aspired to do that job, and work at Parliament House."

 

But he said her demeanour changed after the alleged rape.

 

"She absolutely was different," Mr O'Connor said.

 

"She was a bit testier, we would sometimes have arguments over small things."

 

More questions around Network Ten's checking of inconsistencies

 

The hearing has also heard from Peter Meakin, who has led the major newsrooms at all three Australian commercial networks, and was a news and current affairs executive at Network Ten at the time the program went to air.

 

He was today challenged on the preparation of the program, and whether further enquiries should have been made to Ms Higgins after the program team received other evidence which was inconsistent with her account, or responses from other people mentioned in the story.

 

"I suppose in retrospect we could have done a lot of things, but I think [producer Angus Llewellyn] did a good job," Mr Meakin said.

 

Mr Lehrmann's barrister Matthew Richardson asked specifically about the government's response to Network Ten's enquiry, in which a spokesman denied Ms Higgins was given a choice between pursuing a police complaint and keeping her job.

 

Mr Meakin said he knew the government was "contending" that there would be no impact on her career, but he was troubled by some of the information being provided on background, which he said was "not the most reliable source of information".

 

He also defended the introduction of the program which referred to "a young woman forced to choose between her career and the pursuit of justice".

 

"What it implied … was that we were believing her story more than the government's," Mr Meakin said.

 

Earlier today, Justice Michael Lee also threatened legal action against the YouTube channel 'Feminism Debunked' for failing to take down nine videos of the proceedings it has republished.

 

The court has ordered Google to provide the details of the account holder to the court registrar.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-18/bruce-lehrmann-defamation-trial-evidence-brittany-higgins-boss/103241022

 

https://www.youtube.com/@FeminismDebunked/videos

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:36 a.m. No.20092959   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3645

Over 700 American AUKUS personnel to be based in Western Australia, with radioactive storage facility also planned

 

Andrew Greene - 18 December 2023

 

Defence expects more than 700 American personnel could live in Western Australia to support up to four US nuclear submarines being stationed at HMAS Stirling, where a "low-level radioactive waste management" facility is also being planned.

 

The projections are contained in comprehensive briefing notes prepared by the newly created Australian Submarine Agency (ASA) which also detail how a one-off Australian government payment of $US3 billion ($4.45 billion) will be spent by the United States.

 

Under the optimal pathway announced by AUKUS leaders earlier this year, the Submarine Rotational Force – West (SRF-West) would first begin hosting Royal Navy Astute-class and US Navy Virginia-class submarines at HMAS Stirling from 2027.

 

A Virginia-class submarine carries a crew of 132 according to the US Navy, while an Astute-class boat deploys with almost 100 Royal Navy submariners on board.

 

SRF-West is the first phase of AUKUS and is projected to "grow an Australian workforce of approximately 500-700 maintenance and support personnel" before the 'Sovereign Ready' milestone when Australia can own and operate its own US-made nuclear-powered boats.

 

"This workforce will then move to support our enduring nuclear-powered submarine program and will be a key enabler for SRF-West," the ASA states in documents obtained under Freedom of Information by former Senator and submariner Rex Patrick.

 

"In addition to these 500-700 Australians at its height, we estimate that over 700 United States Personnel could be living and working in Western Australia to support SRF-West, with some also bringing families," the ASA predicts.

 

According to the ASA, SRF-West will be established as early as 2027 and expand in subsequent years to support up to four US and one UK nuclear-powered submarine, with the Australian government investing $8 billion to expand HMAS Stirling outside Perth.

 

The ASA notes there will also be "a small United Kingdom contingent living in Perth" but most British personnel supporting SRF-West "will be in Australia for shorter rotations, meaning they will not be bringing families with them".

 

Planning begins for low-level radioactive waste management

 

Decisions on where Australia will eventually dispose of its nuclear submarine reactors are not expected for many years, but planning has begun for "low-level radioactive waste management" at HMAS Stirling to support SRF-West.

 

"Expertise to manage low-level operational waste arising from nuclear-powered submarine operations and sustainment will be an important part of Australia building the necessary stewardship capability to operate and maintain its own submarines."

 

The ASA insists the rotational presence of US and UK nuclear submarines in Western Australia "will provide an opportunity to learn how these vessels operate, including the management of low-level radioactive waste from routine sustainment".

 

"All low and intermediate level radioactive waste will be safely stored at Defence sites in Australia," the ASA briefing documents confirm.

 

"An operational waste storage facility for low-level radioactive waste management is being planned as part of the infrastructure works proposed for HMAS Stirling to support SRF-West."

 

More details emerge on Australia's multi-billion dollar payment

 

Inside the almost 200 pages of ASA briefing notes are further details of how a $US3 billion ($4.45 billion) Australian contribution to the US submarine industrial base will be spent, including on enhancing facilities and pre-purchasing components and materials.

 

"Australia's commitment to invest in the US submarine industrial base recognises the lift the United States is making to supporting Australia's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines."

 

"Pre-purchasing submarine components and materials, so they are on hand at the start of the maintenance period – saving time" and "outsourcing less complex sustainment and expanding planning efforts for private sector overhauls, to reduce backlog".

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-18/aukus-americans-western-australia-radioactive-storage-facility/103239924

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 18, 2023, 2:43 a.m. No.20092981   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20087555 (pb)

Cardinal Becciu found guilty on auspicious day – for George Pell

 

TESS LIVINGSTONE - DECEMBER 17, 2023

 

The guilty verdicts of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, nine other individuals and four companies in a Vatican City courtroom came on an auspicious day.

 

Saturday, December 16, was the 57th anniversary of the ordination of George Pell to the priesthood in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It was also the second anniversary of the death of his sister and best friend, Margaret Pell.

 

A group of about 100 friends gathered at Pell’s grave in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, where Archbishop Anthony Fisher offered mass for both, and blessed the cardinal’s grave.

 

Its headstone reflects his life – prayerful, colourful and packed with achievements. “Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy 2014-2019’’, the second last line reads.

 

It was in that role that he and Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who openly fancied becoming pope, clashed long and hard.

 

In January, Becciu was among 50 cardinals to attend Pell’s funeral in St Peter’s to “pray the Lord to forgive’’ Pell for “feeding the slanderous suspicion that I was the one who conspired against him’’.

 

Pell had no need to feed such suspicion. Becciu was open about cancelling Pell’s decision to have the Vatican’s arcane financial records audited and, later, to sack internal auditor Libero Milone, whose lawsuit against the Vatican will be decided soon.

 

From Pell’s perspective, his battles with Becciu were never personal. As late as a year ago, Pell argued that Becciu deserved due process and a fair trial. He chuckled, though, that “Saints has no clout” when the Pope moved Becciu out of the Secretariat of State, where he had been second in charge, to run the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 2018.

 

Pell’s drive, said Sydney accountant Danny Casey, who worked beside him for years in Sydney and Rome, was to see Vatican funds managed properly to help the church’s mission to the poor and vulnerable. That demanded modern, transparent accounting practices.

 

As Casey noted on Sunday, Saturday’s verdict will be a powerful warning to others inclined to work against the reform process.

 

Early on, to the horror of the Vatican “old guard’’ and corrupt financiers, that process began with Pell’s ordering the closure of about 4000 Vatican Bank accounts held by individuals not entitled to them. Pell realised he could be signing his ticket out of Rome, one way or another, when he reported 200 of the account holders to authorities.

 

The Vatican Bank, he knew, had been a handy shelter for money laundering and ill gotten gains. “We all remember what happened to Calvi and that other one, Sindona,’’ he said while promoting his Prison Diaries in late 2020. “Today, more often than not, they attack by destroying reputations.’’

 

Financial corruption had dogged the Vatican for centuries, and it intensified in the 1960s when Pope Paul VI called in US archbishop Paul Marcinkus from Chicago for help. Far from improving efficiency, Marcinkus engaged freemason mafia bankers Roberto Calvi (known as “God’s banker”, who was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982) and Michele Sindona (who died from cyanide in his coffee in an Italian jail in 1986). Both were involved in scandals that cost the Vatican hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

In Italy, Calvi had been part of the P2 lodge whose members had referred to themselves as “black friars’’.

 

Blessing Pell’s grave on Saturday, Archbishop Fisher quoted Francis’s words last week that Pell had “the zeal, conviction, determination and vision of a man who, more than many others, understood the road that should be followed” regarding the Vatican financial reforms.

 

The Pope offered “our much-mourned brother” and his motto “be not afraid” as a model to Vatican reformers, Archbishop Fisher said. For the sake of the church and those it serves, however, it was unfortunate that Francis often sided with Becciu and others who opposed Pell’s reforms - a pattern that puzzled, worried and upset Pell.

 

What is indisputable, as Archbishop Fisher said, is that “No Australian has done more for the church international’’ than Pell. When Vatican history is written decades from now, Pell will stand tall.

 

Events in Rome on the day of his anniversary of ordination and the blessing of his grave in Sydney will be acknowledged as a turning point.

 

Tess Livingstone’s updated biography, George Cardinal Pell, Pax Invictis, will be published in the new year.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/cardinal-becciu-found-guilty-on-auspicious-day-for-george-pell/news-story/6e85b9e0716ec60587eac5f7139cb790

 

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

 

https://qanon.pub/?q=cardinal-george-pell

 

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

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 1:22 a.m. No.20098412   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8414

NT chief minister Natasha Fyles resigns following conflict of interest claims

 

PAIGE TAYLOR, LIAM MENDES and MATT CUNNINGHAM - DECEMBER 19, 2023

 

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The chief minister of the Northern Territory, Natasha Fyles, has resigned over her shares in a manganese mine that as health minister she declined to investigate.

 

The Labor leader announced she was stepping down shortly after 3pm AEDT. It comes after online masthead NT Independent reported that she owned undisclosed shares in South32, a company which owns a manganese mine off the territory’s northeast coast.

 

Ms Fyles had been in the territory government’s top job for less than 18 months.

 

At a press conference in Darwin, Ms Fyles’ voice broke and became emotional as she told reporters of her decision. She said that not declaring the small shareholding in South32 was an error and not intentional. She intends to remain in parliament.

 

She said she had shares in BHP since she was a child and these were a gift from her late grandmother. As the result of a demerger in 2015, Ms Fyles was subsequently issued with a small number of shares in South32 which owns the manganese mine on Groote Eylandt.

 

“I can assure Territorians that no decision I have made was affected by that small shareholding,” she said.

 

“It is clear that I have failed to meet the standards that are set for us and the standards that I set for myself.”

 

Ms Fyles had previously listed 754 shares she owns listed in her name in 2015, and are worth just under $2500.

 

Community members have for years called for government testing on the mine’s health impact.

 

Earlier this year, Ms Fyles said the government would not investigate air pollution levels or health impacts following those requests, saying there was adequate monitoring already in place.

 

Ms Fyles is also the territory’s health minister.

 

Ms Fyles did not answer questions by The Australian at Sydney airport on Tuesday morning as to whether she was considering stepping down from her position, which she has held since May 2022, after the NT Independent reported she holds 754 shares in South 32.

 

Those shares were allegedly not disclosed publicly when Ms Fyles refused to investigate the suspected health impacts on Indigenous Australians of the Gemco mine on Groote Eylandt, which is run by South 32, earlier this year while she was health minister.

 

Escorted by a Qantas staff member out of the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge in Sydney on Tuesday and onto her Darwin-bound aircraft, Ms Fyles remained silent, refusing to answer questions as to why her shares were not declared and whether she would be stepping down.

 

Sky News reported preparations for Ms Fyles’ resignation this week were already being made, with Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison and Infrastructure Minister Joel Bowden touted as possible replacements.

 

On Tuesday morning former Labor member and now independent Mark Turner wrote a letter to NT ICAC commissioner Michael Riches, calling for an independent review into Ms Fyles and her cabinet’s refusal address a previous allegation of corrupt conduct, in which she had lobbied for the development of the Middle Arm industrial precinct while holding shares in gas company Woodside.

 

“The moment it seems journalists are doing the work of the ICAC and the parliament, which leaves us in a very precarious position in the Northern Territory,” Mr Turner told The Australian on Tuesday morning.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 1:23 a.m. No.20098414   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098412

 

2/2

 

It comes as it was revealed in November that Ms Fyles had lobbied for the development of the Middle Arm industrial precinct while holding shares in gas company Woodside. She at first denied there was any conflict but later agreed to divest the shares.

 

When asked about the alleged conflict on November 15, she said: “What I can say to Territorians is that I have always declared everything. When you are elected to parliament you declare any interests you have, from our family home, to our cars, to our membership at our local sporting club.”

 

One Labor source told The Australian Fyles “could be a little bit stuffed”.

 

“A month ago she should have dealt with this issue, now this has come out, it’s a real conflict.”

 

On Monday afternoon Sky News reported she was facing internal Labor Party pressure to resign amid the allegations.

 

Senior Labor sources told the outlet “high-level discussions” had occurred and the revelations had dealt a permanent blow to Ms Fyles’ credibility.

 

“I’m not sure how she survives this,” one source told Sky News.

 

Independent MLA Robyn Lambley told The Australian Ms Fyles’ behaviour was “unethical” and called for Ms Fyles to step down.

 

“It truly beggars belief that she has not fully declared her interests. She has continued to conceal, and you can only conclude it is deliberate,” Ms Lambley said.

 

“Forgetting to declare something important once is excusable, twice, perhaps excusable, but this is the third or fourth time that it’s been revealed she hasn’t fully declared her interests.

 

“And not declaring an interest in a company that is so profoundly connected to the Northern Territory is inexcusable. She really has completely lit herself down, and let Territorians down.

 

“This is a woman that does have integrity, to some very strange, inexplicable reason, has decided that she does not need to fully declare her interest, it truly beggars belief why she has done this.

 

“She has voluntarily thrown herself under the bus, no one has pushed her, it’s quite unbelievable.

 

Ms Fyles is the second Labor leader to step down in two weeks, following the resignation of Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

 

When Ms Fyles replaced Michael Gunner in May last year, she was boosted by the left faction in the NT Labor caucus.

 

The right faction is now expected to push for deputy chief minister Nicole Manison to take over from Ms Fyles.

 

The left faction has two frontrunners. The first is Chanston Paech, the first openly gay Indigenous MP in Australia and the NT’s attorney general, justice minister and minister for Aboriginal affairs and treaty. The second is Joel Bowden, the infrastructure minister who played in the AFL for Richmond from 1996 to 2009.

 

Ms Fyles had previously failed to declare other shares in Woodside.

 

She holds shares in South32 worth less than $2500. However, she did not declare them as required.

 

Amid concerns over potential manganese dust leaks at South32’s mine this year, Ms Fyles - who is also the NT’s health minister, declined to authorise a government investigation.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/nt-chief-minister-natasha-fyles-to-resign-over-conflict-of-interest-claims/news-story/31d77334bef6f40163197b890bac51b4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C8HdkMEddU

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 1:42 a.m. No.20098432   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8433

>>20092945

Lip-reader spent three days analysing CCTV footage of Lehrmann and Higgins, court told

 

Michaela Whitbourn, Perry Duffin and Clare Sibthorpe - December 19, 2023

 

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A UK-based lip-reader flown to Sydney by Network Ten to give evidence as part of its defence to Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case says he spent three days analysing CCTV footage of the former Liberal staffer and Brittany Higgins in a Canberra bar in the hours before she alleges she was raped.

 

Tim Reedy, who became profoundly deaf at the age of four, told the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday that the CCTV footage of the pair drinking with colleagues at The Dock hotel in Canberra on March 22, 2019, was “one of the better CCTV cameras” he had seen.

 

He told the court he was able to use Apple technology to “fine-tune the pixelation until the image was very sharp” and place a magnifier “over the person who is speaking in the bar”.

 

Reedy said he had “spent a good three days” looking at the footage and had the luxury of playing it repeatedly.

 

He told the court he had been engaged as a lip-reader for a range of media outlets and had analysed the coronation of King Charles for The Sunday Times, as well as assisting police investigations.

 

Justice Michael Lee asked if lip-reading the coronation involved trying to discern “what one minor royal said to another … or something like that”, and Reedy agreed, saying the newspaper liked “a bit of gossip”.

 

Australian accents

 

At one stage on Tuesday, Lee and three senior barristers gathered around Reedy to observe excerpts of the CCTV footage on a laptop.

 

Under cross-examination by Lehrmann’s barrister, Steven Whybrow, SC, Reedy said there was a “big difference” between analysing CCTV and lip-reading in daily life. He was able to watch a video at different speeds and play it repeatedly, he said.

 

Whybrow asked Reedy whether a note he wrote saying “man is lining up drinks; plying the woman with alcohol” was something he had been instructed had happened or had assessed himself.

 

Reedy told the court he observed drinks being “pushed” in Higgins’ direction, which suggested she was being plied with alcohol.

 

Whybrow asked Reedy if Higgins’ evidence during the trial that if someone had given her a drink “there was never a way I wasn’t going to finish it” would affect his opinion that Higgins had said at one point “I don’t want to” in response to Lehrmann allegedly encouraging her to skol a drink.

 

Reedy said: “That’s what I believe she said.”

 

“You have not had any experience with Australian accents?” Whybrow asked.

 

“Yes I have. I’ve met Australian people throughout my life,” he said.

 

“Would you accept that in the circumstances where you have never been assessed as to the accuracy of your lip-reading some of your opinions might not be correct?” Whybrow said.

 

“I would say they’re more correct than not,” Reedy said.

 

Lehrmann disagreed during his evidence that he gestured towards a drink at The Dock at about 11.50pm and told Higgins: “Drink that all now.”

 

The court has previously been shown CCTV footage in which Lehrmann placed three drinks in front of Higgins at The Dock and gestured towards them. Lehrmann denied during his evidence that he had said the words “all hers, all hers”, and denied he encouraged Higgins to get drunk.

 

The expert report

 

Lee ruled this month that Ten could tender a report in which Reedy expresses an opinion on words spoken by Lehrmann and Higgins at The Dock, based on an analysis of the CCTV footage, and confirmed that ruling on Tuesday.

 

The judge made clear that his ruling allowing the report to be admitted in evidence was not an indication of the weight he would ultimately place on the opinions expressed in it.

 

The lawsuit

 

Lehrmann is suing Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over an interview with Higgins, broadcast on The Project on February 15, 2021, that he alleges defames him by suggesting he is guilty of raping Higgins in then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds’ Parliament House office in the early hours of March 23, 2019.

 

Both Higgins and Lehrmann worked as advisers to Reynolds. Lehrmann has denied raping Higgins and has told the Federal Court there was no sexual contact between the pair at all.

 

The court will not sit on Wednesday, but the trial will resume on Thursday and Friday for closing submissions. Lee said he was prepared to sit extended hours on those days.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 1:44 a.m. No.20098433   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098432

 

2/2

 

Ex-chief of staff returns to court

 

Earlier on Tuesday, Reynolds’ former chief of staff, Fiona Brown, told the court she felt the Liberal senator and a second minister were covering for themselves when they urged her to report an alleged incident Lehrmann and Higgins to police.

 

Brown said that Reynolds and then special minister of state Alex Hawke had wanted her to make a police report after she had recounted a conversation she had with Higgins on March 28, 2019.

 

She told the court Higgins had “blindsided” her when she told her on March 28: “I remember him being on top of me.”

 

“I didn’t take it as an allegation,” Brown said.

 

Brown said the ministers “felt it was best if it went to police” but “there was no consideration for Ms Higgins”.

 

“I didn’t have the right; Ms Higgins had the right,” she said.

 

“So they were covering for themselves, you felt?” Wilkinson’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, asked. “Yes,” Brown replied.

 

“You got to the point by the afternoon you thought you might be fired because you were refusing to follow two ministers’ directions,” Chrysanthou said.

 

“Well, yes,” Brown replied.

 

During her evidence on Monday, Brown agreed that it had entered her mind after speaking to Lehrmann on March 26, 2019, that Higgins may have been sexually assaulted in the early hours of Saturday, March 23, but she couldn’t rule it in or out.

 

She said her “antenna went up” when Lehrmann told her that he had come back to Parliament House to drink whisky.

 

Brown gave evidence that she had been told that Higgins had been found naked on the couch in Reynolds’ office and that both Lehrmann and Higgins, then working as advisers in Reynolds’ office, had returned to Parliament House after hours.

 

But Brown said that Higgins had not told her in their first meeting on March 26, after her conversation with Lehrmann, that she had woken up early on March 23 in Reynolds’ office and Lehrmann had been “on top of me”.

 

She agreed that she had given Higgins the number for the national domestic family and sexual violence counselling service, 1800 RESPECT, at the first meeting on the advice of the department of finance.

 

“It was part of the advice they provided because of the state of undress, I presume,” Brown said. This advice had been given to her before she had spoken to Higgins, she told the court.

 

Brown said Higgins had told her two days later that she remembered him “being on top of me”. However, Brown said that Higgins had not said it was something she didn’t want.

 

The court has heard Brown took Higgins to meet internal Australian Federal Police agents in Parliament House on April 1, 2019, but did not attend the meeting. Ultimately, Higgins opted not to proceed with a complaint that month.

 

On April 5, 2019, Lehrmann’s employment was terminated for accessing the office out of hours, but not for the alleged assault.

 

‘There was no cover-up’

 

Asked about allegations there was an attempt to suppress Higgins from making a complaint, Brown said Higgins and Lehrmann were in their early 20s and “there was no cover-up”.

 

The police and department of finance were consulted, the department of parliamentary services knew, and “there was no cover-up”, she said.

 

Livestreaming paused

 

The trial has been livestreamed on YouTube but Brown’s evidence was not broadcast live owing to mental health considerations. Her recorded evidence, which is expected to be released on YouTube at 10.15am on Wednesday morning, started on Monday and continued into the evening. It concluded on Tuesday.

 

Lee said that he had determined it was in the interests of justice for Brown’s evidence to be recorded and streamed, but not livestreamed, “based on available medical evidence adduced before me”.

 

He said that everything upon which he made his decision would be in the public domain, but streaming the evidence after Brown had left court was an appropriate safeguard.

 

Lehrmann not named

 

Lehrmann was not named in Ten’s interview. A preliminary issue in the case is whether he was identified because of the details provided in the broadcast, including the fact that the alleged perpetrator had worked in Reynolds’ office.

 

If the court finds Lehrmann was identified in the interview, Ten and Wilkinson are seeking to rely on defences of truth and qualified privilege. Qualified privilege is a defence relating to publications of public interest, which requires a media outlet to show it has acted reasonably.

 

Sexual assault charge dropped

 

Lehrmann’s ACT Supreme Court trial for sexual assault was aborted last year due to juror misconduct. The charge against Lehrmann was later dropped altogether owing to concerns about Higgins’ mental health.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/former-chief-of-staff-returns-to-court-in-lehrmann-defamation-case-20231219-p5esdb.html

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 1:51 a.m. No.20098441   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8446

>>20092945

Who said conspiracy? Lisa Wilkinson’s lawyer abandons cover-up claim

 

STEPHEN RICE - DECEMBER 19, 2023

 

1/2

 

Lisa Wilkinson’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, had just finished her cross-examination of Fiona Brown when Justice Michael Lee moved in with a trademark killer question.

 

“Can I proceed on the basis that no submission will be made Ms Brown was a knowing participant in a systemic cover-up of a rape?” he asked.

 

There was a pause as Ms Chrysanthou took stock of this question.

 

It was only last week that her client had sat in the same witness box and told the Federal Court she believed Brown, former chief of staff to then-Minister Linda Reynolds was “getting instructions from the prime minister’s office” and it followed she and Reynolds were “knowing participants in a systemic cover-up”.

 

“You’d agree that it would be wicked conduct … being involved in the systemic cover up of a rape allegation?” Lee had asked.

 

“Yeah, it was about keeping the details away from the media,” Wilkinson replied.

 

Those words may have flashed through Chrysanthou’s mind as she considered her response.

 

Yes, she agreed after a long moment, there would be no submission that Brown was engaged in a systematic cover up the rape.

 

That stunning concession may not win Bruce Lehrmann his defamation case against Wilkinson and the Ten Network, but it puts a torpedo through the bows of a central claim in their case: that Brittany Higgins was a victim of powerful forces inside the Morrison government who pressured her to stay silent or risk her career.

 

If Brown wasn’t part of the giant conspiracy, who was?

 

On the evidence Chrysanthou extracted from Brown on Tuesday, Reynolds had been determined to get the police involved even before Higgins had verbalised her rape claim, let alone decided to make a complaint.

 

Brown told the court she feared losing her job after defying orders from both Reynolds and another minister, Alex Hawke – a close confidant of Scott Morrison – to make a police report without Higgins’ consent, before the young staffer had said she was raped.

 

Higgins had said she did not want to make a police report, and wanted to speak to her father before making a decision, Brown said.

 

Brown said she was doing what she’d been told to do by Department of Finance executive Lauren Barons: “Ms Higgins needed to have her agency and it was her right to make a police report.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 1:53 a.m. No.20098446   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098441

 

2/2

 

The most startling evidence that Chrysanthou extracted from Brown on Tuesday was that she believed Reynolds and Hawke were trying to protect themselves when they demanded she go to the police.

 

Brown: “There was no consideration of Ms Higgins – consideration for themselves but not Ms Higgins.”

 

Chrysanthou: “You felt they were covering themselves – that’s all they were worrying about?”

 

Brown: “Yes.”

 

It’s not a pretty allegation to make about Reynolds and Hawke – that they simply wanted to be able to say they did something – but it shoots down the proposition that the government was intent on silencing the young woman and covering up the rape.

 

Wilkinson had been convinced the story involved “an extraordinary cover up”, as she texted a colleague, after reading a timeline of the case prepared by Higgins fiance David Sharaz.

 

The Project had claimed its story was about “a young woman forced to choose between her career and the pursuit of justice” – and put Brown squarely at the centre of that allegation.

 

From allegedly ignoring Higgins’s first disclosure of a rape to claims she’d offered Higgins a “payout” to get her out of the way in the lead up to the election, the implication was clear: Brown was part of the rot.

 

Wilkinson doubled down on those claims in the witness box, saying Reynolds and Brown had been “very, very careful in the lead up to a tightly contested election”.

 

She said she believed they were taking advice and later, that they were “loyal servants”, to the Prime Minister’s office.

 

“That’s the way politics works”, Ms Wilkinson said.

 

The Project’s brutal portrayal of Brown ended her career and left her so traumatised that Justice Lee delayed the livestream of the defamation proceedings to allow her time to seek medical help should she need it.

 

In her final moments giving evidence on Tuesday, Brown, who had been confident but restrained in the witness box, gave an impassioned reply to the allegations of cover-up.

 

“There was none,” she told Steven Whybrow SC, for Lehrmann, “absolutely none.

 

“The story wasn’t about the politicians. These were two 23-year-olds and there was no cover up. The police were consulted, the Department of Finance was consulted, the Department of Parliamentary Services knew. There was no cover up.”

 

Whybrow has always said Brown was the most important witness in the case because in those first days after the alleged assault she was the only one who took contemporaneous notes.

 

But this very decent, caring public servant may have rendered an even greater public service by finally laying to rest the nonsense of a vast political conspiracy – a sentiment that infected parliament, the courts and the media and which has made the task of untangling what happened that night immeasurably more difficult and painful than it should ever have been.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/who-said-conspiracy-lisa-wilkinsons-lawyer-abandons-coverup-claim/news-story/b094d885027637f9f4703dcbb8a89109

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 1:57 a.m. No.20098451   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>19924993 (pb)

>>19931559 (pb)

Chinese-Australian businessman Sunny Duong found guilty of seeking to influence former minister Alan Tudge

 

Kristian Silva - 19 December 2023

 

A Melbourne man faces jail time after a jury found him guilty of trying to secretly influence former federal minister Alan Tudge to advance the aims of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

 

Di Sanh "Sunny" Duong is believed to be the first person to be found guilty of the offence of planning to commit an act of foreign interference, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

 

On Tuesday afternoon, a County Court of Victoria found him guilty after several days of deliberations and hearing more than two weeks of evidence.

 

Duong made a $37,450 donation to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in June 2020, at a time when COVID lockdowns were imposed and supplies of crucial medical equipment were low.

 

Duong presented a novelty cheque and stood next to Mr Tudge when the cheque was handed over to the hospital CEO in front of the media.

 

However federal prosecutors alleged it was far from a goodwill gesture — instead arguing Duong was in regular contact with Chinese intelligence operatives and was seeking to improperly influence Mr Tudge, who he regarded as potential prime minister material.

 

Duong protested his innocence and pleaded not guilty at the trial before Judge Richard Maidment.

 

Duong is a 'big noter', court hears

 

Duong, a one-time Liberal Party political candidate and member, was described by his own lawyer as a "big noter" who liked to boast about his connections, but rejected suggestions he was recruited by Chinese officials or was following their orders.

 

Prosecutors told the jury Duong's actions couldn't be likened to the espionage they read about in spy novels or saw in James Bond films.

 

Instead, Patrick Doyle SC said it was about a "subtle form of interference".

 

"It's about influence," he said.

 

Much of the trial was held behind closed doors, with the public and media shut out of evidence given by witnesses with protected identities.

 

Duong's history with Chinese Communist Party

 

Prior to his arrest, Duong was a well-known business figure in the Chinese-Australian community and was the head of a local group called the Oceania Federation of Chinese Organisations from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

 

He was also involved in another group, which federal prosecutors claimed was registered with an agency of the CCP.

 

Secret recordings captured the businessman telling an associate: "When I do things it never gets reported in the newspaper but Beijing will know what I'm doing."

 

Duong was released on bail and will face a pre-sentence hearing at a later date.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-19/sunny-di-sanh-duong-foreign-interference-chinese-communist-party/103247096

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:14 a.m. No.20098476   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8480 >>4659

A teacher pleads guilty to historical child sexual abuse. And he doesn’t have to spend a day in jail

 

Erin Pearson - December 17, 2023

 

1/2

 

When Stewart Carter walked into the Eltham police station to report the man who sexually abused him as a child, he never imagined the primary school teacher would later walk free without ever serving a day in jail.

 

Sitting in the second row of the County Court of Victoria, with his head bowed, Carter broke down as a judge revealed the man seated metres away in the dock with a bag packed at his knee – Gary Bloom – would walk with a three-year jail sentence, wholly suspended.

 

“I wanted to scream out, but I couldn’t. I’d poured petrol on myself and basically set my life on fire all to watch him walk from court,” Carter, 49, recalls.

 

“It took me days to process. I felt like nothing more than a file number.

 

“Is this what the community expects? Child sexual offenders spending no time in jail?”

 

It would be the beginning, he says, of a stark lesson in the realities of the justice system.

 

Carter gave permission for The Age to remove the cloak of anonymity the law gives to child sex abuse victims. He allowed us to publicly identify him because he wants to change the law and stop historical child sex abuse offenders receiving wholly suspended jail sentences.

 

He also wants to close a little-known loophole that allows some convicted child molesters to leave the country without ever notifying police overseas of their risks to the community.

 

Carter said some child sex abuse victims are falling through the cracks in cases which don’t involve attention-grabbing institutions such as the AFL or Catholic Church.

 

“If my abuser had been charged under what the crime is today, he would’ve been staring at about eight years in custody. He walked from court without spending a day in prison,” Carter said.

 

“He now has unfettered access to children in Scotland where he runs a bed and breakfast with his former wife.”

 

There were 2294 charges laid for sexual offences against children in the year to July 2023, the second highest in more than a decade, data from the Crime Statistics Agency shows.

 

Statistically, it’s recognised it can take decades, and often longer, for men to report childhood sexual abuse to the authorities.

 

In 2019, more than 2000 Australians reported for the first time incidents of sexual abuse to police – incidents that had occurred more than 20 years earlier.

 

Of those, half had occurred to children when they were aged under 10.

 

One in three women and one in five men are estimated to experience child sexual abuse by the time they’re 18.

 

“This needs to be reflected in sentencing given the known delay in reporting,” Carter said.

 

“In the 1980s it wasn’t possible for a male to be charged with raping another male, there was not a charge then, so people were charged with offences such as indecent assault and not the sexual penetration of a child which is the charge we see today.

 

“The changes I am proposing to sentencing of historical offences have already been made in NSW, in 2018.”

 

THE NSW LAW CHANGE

 

Last year, the NSW government changed the law around the sentencing of historical crimes to reflect current sentencing standards.

 

The then NSW attorney general Mark Speakman said the changes were implemented to ensure the courts apply contemporary sentencing practices, regardless of the nature of the crime or when it was committed.

 

It was an expansion of 2018 reforms that ensured child sex offenders would be sentenced according to contemporary practices, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

 

But the law is very different in Victoria.

 

In 1985, Bloom was working as a teacher at Sacred Heart Primary School in Diamond Creek, in Melbourne’s north-east, and as a swimming coach, when he began visiting a paddock near Carter’s home, where children were known to frequent.

 

Carter said that while Bloom was not his teacher at the time of the offending, living with the knowledge that someone in a position of trust in the community had taken advantage of him added to his trauma.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:16 a.m. No.20098480   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098476

 

2/2

 

Carter said it wasn’t an easy task to report Bloom to the police. In fact, it took him more than 30 years to do so. Then COVID-19 hit.

 

“The police waited until he [Bloom] returned to Australia in December 2021 where he was arrested after completing home quarantine. He was later bailed and allowed to return to Scotland for work.

 

“In the phone call we recorded, he said he had been found guilty without conviction for similar offending on two other boys in 1992 while he was a teacher. He said he couldn’t remember me, but what he did was consistent with what he was doing at the time,” Carter said.

 

In the 1980s in Victoria, the charge of indecent assault could include anything from flashing to abusing a child.

 

More recently, there is now a specific offence for the sexual penetration of children aged under 12. The standard sentence for that offence is 10 years’ and a maximum sentence of 25 years’ jail.

 

THE SENTENCING ISSUES

 

A change in sentencing principles means different minimum sentences can apply to a person who commits a crime today when compared with historical crimes.

 

From 2011 to 2014, the Sentencing Advisory Council reported suspended sentences were phased out in Victoria and can only now be applied to historical offending that occurred before this time.

 

Data from the County Court of Victoria shows there were 32 people convicted of child sex related offences between 2018 and 2022.

 

Of those, two resulted in wholly suspended sentences and a further 27 were jailed with an average sentence of about seven years.

 

On October 6, Bloom, now 58, walked from court with a three year wholly suspended sentence after pleading guilty. He avoided spending a single day in prison.

 

“If you’ve been charged with a crime like Gary back in 1985 and the offence satisfies the current threshold under the current offence of sexual penetration of a child under 12, you should be sentenced accordingly,” Carter said.

 

“Societally, was child abuse different in 1985?”

 

GARY BLOOM

 

Bloom is one of a growing list of former Victorian teachers to be charged with historic child sex abuse.

 

He joins the ranks of other child molesters who were teachers including Malka Leifer, Steven Ronald Mellody, David Carnie, Brian Kenneth William Wallwork, Damien Woods, John McMillan, Graeme Harder, Monique Frances Ooms and Luke Joseph Martin – all sentenced in recent years.

 

A number of others accused offenders remain before the courts.

 

Liberal party member for the North-Eastern Metropolitan region Nick McGowan said the outcome of Carter’s case was somewhat frightening and feared it may see other victims, particularly men, avoid coming forward if they feel their efforts will amount to an offender simply walking out of court

 

“I am greatly concerned by a system which increasingly appears to prioritise an offender’s supposed good behaviour since offending, over the need for justice to contain an appropriate punishment for crimes against children,” McGowan said.

 

A Victorian government spokesperson acknowledged the impacts of sexual violence on victims could be profound and often have lasting consequences.

 

“We know the re-traumatising effect seeking justice can have on sexual assault victim-survivors – that’s why we’re continuing to improve how the justice system deals with sexual violence,” they said.

 

Carter reported his abuse to police in 2019. Bloom – by then living overseas – was charged and released on bail during a trip back to Australia in December 2021.

 

Ever since though, Carter said he’s been forced to grapple with crude comments from adults with one person at his workplace even suggesting he was lucky Carter himself didn’t grow into a sex offender.

 

“We should be encouraging people to speak up. We must learn to live with the uncomfortable. Because people like Gary hope that the uncomfortableness keeps people like me quiet,” he said.

 

For support call Kidshelpline 1800 55 1800, Lifeline 131 114

 

https://kidshelpline.com.au/

 

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

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/a-teacher-pleads-guilty-to-historical-child-sexual-abuse-and-he-doesn-t-have-to-spend-a-day-in-jail-20231212-p5equ2.html

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:24 a.m. No.20098506   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8508

>>20087601 (pb)

Political, Jewish leaders: Radical cleric inaction gives ‘green light’ to incendiary ‘final solution’ sermon

 

ALEXI DEMETRIADI - DECEMBER 19, 2023

 

1/2

 

Political and Jewish leaders have said inaction on incendiary sermons delivered at a Sydney Islamic centre has given radical clerics a “green light” as another preacher called for a Muslim army, describing it as “the final solution”, a term explicitly linked to Nazism and the Holocaust.

 

The Australian revealed on Sunday how a cleric known as “Brother Muhammad” gave the sermon at Bankstown’s Al Madina Dawah Centre – itself the subject of two police investigations now dropped – that called for a Muslim army and an Islamic state with sharia law, and wrongly accused Israel of using AI to target children.

 

Jewish leaders said “Australia’s tolerance of intolerance” was reaching its limits.

 

“Brother Muhammad is the latest self-described Islamic preacher to spew hatred against Jews,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim said.

 

“In the wake of Hamas’s genocidal atrocities, he has adopted the expression ‘the final solution’ against the world’s only Jewish state, an expression made infamous by Nazi Germany as a euphemism for the genocide of the Jewish people.”

 

The Australian previously revealed how police had dropped investigations into hate-fuelled sermons at the centre by cleric Abu Ousayd – also known as Wissam Haddad – and “Brother Ismail”, which included calls for jihad, parables that said “kill Jews” and that if Islamic nations “spat on Israel the Jews would drown”. The police involved said each case had not breached the criminality threshold.

 

“Previous anti-Jewish rants by other Muslim preachers went unpunished, and now we see the consequences – Australia’s tolerance of intolerance must surely be reaching its limits,” Mr Wertheim said.

 

He contrasted Brother Muhammad’s use of the term with former senator Fraser Anning saying “the final solution to the immigration problem is a popular vote”, referring to Muslim immigrants, for which he was criticised.

 

“Brother Muhammad has used that identical expression in a manner that is even more directly reminiscent of Nazi ideas and practices,” Mr Wertheim said.

 

“Yet the same parties that screamed their disapproval of Mr Anning have been silent about this latest incident. Their hypocrisy and double standards could not be more obvious.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:25 a.m. No.20098508   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098506

 

2/2

 

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said social cohesion was a “collective responsibility”, slamming the sermon’s rhetoric.

 

“Those who seek to divide our society based on race, religion or other immutable characteristics tear at the seams of what makes Australia the best place on Earth to live,” he said.

 

In political circles, the sermon was labelled “appalling” and “abhorrent”.

 

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said he was concerned that even after multiple investigations into the centre’s preachers, they continued to “sprout violent rhetoric and hatred”.

 

“Calling for a ‘final solution’ in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict is abhorrent and indefensible,” Senator Paterson said, calling it “corrosive” to society and saying it should be rejected by Australians.

 

“Our law enforcement and security agencies must continue to keep a close eye on the inflammatory rhetoric from these preachers and ensure the law is robustly enforced.”

 

Liberal senator Dave Sharma – a former ambassador to Israel – agreed the failure to act on previous sermons had given the clerics “the green light”.

 

“This rhetoric is incendiary and only likely to fuel further anti-Semitism … especially with its appalling reference to seeking a ‘final solution’,” he said.

 

“Unfortunately NSW authorities have effectively given such speech the green light, with their bizarre and inexplicable failure to take action and enforce laws intended to safeguard our entire community.”

 

In December, when asked why police had dropped their investigations, NSW Premier Chris Minns reiterated that the sermons “reeked of anti-­Semitism” but decisions to prosecute sat with NSW police, who found its contents hadn’t breached section 93z of the Crimes Act.

 

The Anti-Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful to incite hatred or contempt for a person or group on the basis of their belief or race, is a civil and not a criminal provision.

 

NSW Police was contacted about whether Brother Muhammad’s sermon would be subject to inquiries.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/political-jewish-leaders-radical-cleric-inaction-gives-green-light-to-incendiary-final-solution-sermon/news-story/b6f1b9688e2c2f82bcf6b0a818ff79de

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ-gWqhMZxI

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:33 a.m. No.20098526   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8529 >>3721 >>8499 >>8504 >>4518 >>3773 >>3786 >>7963 >>7981 >>8008 >>8032 >>2126 >>6736 >>6757 >>1880 >>1899 >>1913 >>1940 >>1959 >>1981 >>2046 >>2058

Labor MPs break ranks to accuse Israel of ‘domination’ of Palestinians

 

Michael McGowan - December 19, 2023

 

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Dozens of high-profile Labor figures, including members of the Albanese, Minns and Allan governments, have signed an open letter declaring the human rights of Palestinians have been “grossly violated” and accusing Israel of policies aimed at “the domination of one people over another”.

 

The letter, co-ordinated by the NSW Labor MP Anthony D’Adam and Greens MP Jenny Leong, calls for a “permanent ceasefire and a just and lasting peace” in Gaza, and urges the Albanese government to recognise Palestine as a state “entitled to be free of occupation” and “examine” its relationship with Israel.

 

Signed by 11 members of Chris Minns’ government and three federal Labor MPs, Maria Vamvakinou from Victoria and WA senators Louise Pratt and Fatima Payman, as well as former NSW premier and foreign affairs minister Bob Carr, it accuses Israel of an ongoing “military occupation, illegal settlement expansion, land theft, violence, discrimination, restrictions on movement and the subjugation of the Palestinian people”.

 

“It is beyond dispute that Israel is committed to policies designed to entrench the domination of one people over another in the territories of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” the letter states.

 

“Attempts to deny this, or smear those who allege it, are an attempt to defy truth and reality.

 

“These events and policies have involved the destruction of Palestinian society and the denial of the legitimate national aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

 

Israel’s air and ground assault on Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ attack in southern Israel on October 7, has caused the deaths of more than 18,700 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. In Australia, the conflict has spurred a wave of pro-Palestinian protest in capital cities including Sydney and Melbourne.

 

Last week the Albanese government announced a surprise shift in its previous stance on the conflict by breaking with the United States to support an immediate ceasefire at the United Nations General Assembly.

 

But the letter challenges Australia’s vocal support for Israel and urges the Commonwealth to view the conflict within a broader historical context.

 

While it condemns the “horrific acts of Hamas on 7 October” it urges the Albanese government to “recognise Palestine as a state that is entitled to be free of occupation” and argued that violations against Palestinian rights began with the “violent displacement of some 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland” when Israel was founded in 1948.

 

The “military occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza by Israel since 1967, the letter states, involved ongoing “illegal settlement expansion, land theft, violence, discrimination, restrictions on movement and the subjugation of the Palestinian people”.

 

The signatories argue that context has meant that “for too long the human rights of the Palestinian people have been grossly violated”.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:35 a.m. No.20098529   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

 

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The letter was co-organised by the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network and signed by more than 200 current and former federal and state MPs and local councillors from across the political divide including members of the Victorian and Queensland governments. Victorian state Labor MPs Bronwyn Halfpenny, Jordan Crugnale, Mathew Hilakari, Dylan Wight and Sonja Terpstra have put their names to the list.

 

Australia should “examine its relationship with Israel”, it says, to focus on “positively contributing to the resolution of this intolerable and dangerous situation that threatens the people of Israel and Palestine and the entire international community”.

 

“We stand with Palestine, the Palestinian people, including Palestinian Australians and with all others who support truth and justice, including the many Jewish people protesting Israeli violence against Palestinians,” it states.

 

D’Adam, an assistant minister in the Minns government in NSW, and Leong, both welcomed the vote in the UN but said that the cross-party statement reflected a view that “the horrific escalation of the situation in Palestine cannot be disconnected from the systematic and long-term oppression which numerous respected Human Rights organisations have condemned”.

 

The conflict in Gaza has proved to be particularly vexing for the Labor government in NSW after the Premier, Chris Minns, emerged as a vocal supporter of Israel.

 

Minns has repeatedly rebuked his own MPs over the issue, including D’Adam, whom he accused of being “deliberately inflammatory” after the MP gave an interview in which he said the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was responsible for killing “thousands of innocent children”.

 

The inclusion of 11 members of his government on the letter, including four assistant ministers– D’Adam, Mark Buttigieg, Trish Doyle and Julia Finn – is likely to further tensions within the Minns government over the issue after an earlier letter signed by NSW Labor MPs urged Israel to comply with international humanitarian law.

 

The letter was also signed by Hawke-era foreign minister Gareth Evans, former Liberal Party Immigration Minister under Malcolm Fraser, Ian Macphee, and leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt.

 

“We call on the Australian government to publicly advocate for an immediate permanent ceasefire, to continue to call for the release of all hostages and urge that all parties fully comply with international standards,” it stated.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/nsw/labor-mps-break-ranks-to-accuse-israel-of-domination-of-palestinians-20231218-p5es4k.html

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfGidzUbtvn-9tYVn9JCHkpGLUIZRnqceKTtiYeDPv14863_Q/viewform?pli=1

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/182u4eJnJUZ_Uruf1GlchLnF8XotnpnAX/edit

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:41 a.m. No.20098545   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8547 >>3699 >>3702

>>20072028 (pb)

Troop boost to Middle East but no ship to Red Sea

 

BEN PACKHAM and CAMERON STEWART - DECEMBER 19, 2023

 

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Australia is unlikely to send a ­warship to join a dangerous new mission in the Red Sea but is set to deploy more personnel to the Middle East, amid pressure on the Albanese government to respond to a US request for Australia to be involved.

 

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will announce details within days of Operation Prosperity Guardian – a new multi­national task force to combat attacks on commercial shipping by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

 

The US Navy asked Australia to send a warship to join the ­operation, but after the Albanese government made it clear in ­initial talks that its primary focus was the Indo-Pacific, it is ­understood the US has decided to modify its request.

 

The growing number of ­attacks on ships, which forced a US warship to shoot down 14 drones on Saturday, has jeopardised transit through the Red Sea, prompting major shipping countries to suspend voyages through a waterway that carries 10 per cent of the world’s cargo.

 

Australian Defence officials will speak to US counterparts on Tuesday, when they are expected to be told that an Australian ship is no longer being sought for the operation. A modified request from the US will give political cover for the Albanese government, which was under increasing pressure to explain why it had not agreed to the US Navy request.

 

Instead of sending a warship, Australia is likely to agree to ­deploy more defence force personnel to shore-based roles with the US-led Combined Maritime Force in Bahrain. There are currently five ADF personnel working at CMF headquarters.

 

The Albanese government told US officials the Australian Navy’s priority was in the ­immediate region where it has been playing a role in securing freedom of navigation in the South China Sea at a time when Chinese navy harassment of ­foreign naval warships and planes is on the rise.

 

The initial request came just days before the US Congress gave the green light to the unprecedented transfer of three nuclear submarines to Australia under the AUKUS partnership. Anthony Albanese said on Monday his government was ­giving appropriate consideration to what was a “general request to a range of nations”.

 

“Of course, our first priority is in our own region, and certainly the United States understands the important role that we’re playing, including freedom of navigation and other issues in our region,” the Prime Minister said.

 

It’s understood that if the Red Sea security situation worsened and Mr Austin issued a direct appeal to Defence Minister Richard Marles to supply a warship for the operation, the government would prioritise the request.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:42 a.m. No.20098547   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098545

 

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Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said the ­government was “dithering” on the decision.

 

“This is an important request by our closest security partner, coming soon after the passage of the AUKUS legislation in Congress,” Mr Hastie said. “If they are putting the ADF in harm’s way, they need to explain why and what mission they will be undertaking. If not, they need to explain why they are not deploying the RAN, and detail the strategic and operational considerations.”

 

Last month several Australian naval personnel aboard the ANZAC frigate HMAS Toowoomba suffered minor injuries after being subjected to sonar pulses from a Chinese warship off the coast of Japan. Mr Marles described the incident as an “unsafe and unprofessional interaction”.

 

Last week four HMAS ships – Toowoomba, Stalwart, Brisbane and Choules – returned from a three-month deployment in northeast and southeast Asia.

 

Some military insiders believe the government’s reluctance to send a warship to the Red Sea ­reflects a parlous shortage of ships and crew, especially over the Christmas period. The navy has only three well-armed ships – its 48-missile-cell Air Warfare ­Destroyers – of which one, HMAS Hobart, has just come out of extended maintenance and ­another, HMAS Brisbane, ­returned from a three-month Asia deployment last week.

 

Only the AWDs would be suitable for such a dangerous deployment because they have enough firepower to shoot down missiles and drones fired by the Houthis in Yemen, which have been targeting commercial shipping in sea lanes in the Red Sea.

 

Some experts question whether an Australian ship or crew was “battle ready” given that no ­Australian warship has fired a shot in anger since the Iraq War in 2003.

 

Mr Austin, who is currently in the Middle East, will announce the formation of Operation ­Prosperity Guardian during his trip.

 

More than 20 ships have ­reported incidents or attacks in recent months in a campaign which Houthi rebels claim is in protest at Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

 

One ship, the Galaxy Leader, was boarded by rebels and captured last month.

 

A British destroyer and a French frigate have joined two US warships in the Red Sea.

 

On Saturday, the USS Carney shot down 14 drones sent towards Israel by the Houthis.

 

A British Type-45 destroyer also shot down a drone, marking the first time a Royal Navy ship had shot down an aerial target since the first Gulf War in 1991.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/troop-boost-to-middle-east-but-no-ship-to-red-sea/news-story/44007fdc28cdccb1fe190f8f4d3ed56b

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:48 a.m. No.20098559   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8565

>>20033314 (pb)

Daniel Duggan asks to be released from jail and detained at home as he fights extradition to US

 

Australian pilot accused of training Chinese military denies he is a flight risk in letter requesting NSW home detention

 

Catie McLeod - 19 Dec 2023

 

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An Australian pilot accused of accepting money to illegally train Chinese military personnel has denied he is a flight risk and described himself as a model prisoner in a formal request to be released into home detention.

 

Daniel Duggan has written to the acting New South Wales corrections commissioner from Lithgow maximum security prison where he is being held in isolated custody while he fights extradition to the US.

 

Duggan, a former US marine who became an Australian citizen, has been charged with four offences in the US including conspiring to launder money and two counts of breaching arms trafficking laws.

 

The US alleges that Duggan said he hoped his children would be set for life after he committed to training Chinese naval pilots, court documents show.

 

He was allegedly paid between $116,000 and $188,000 to carry out the training in South Africa between 2010 and 2012.

 

Duggan has consistently denied the allegations against him and labelled them politically motivated.

 

If convicted, he faces up to 60 years in a US prison. He has spent 14 months in prison in NSW since he was arrested in October 2022.

 

Guardian Australia understands Duggan requested to be separated from the general prison population out of concerns for his own safety. Duggan’s team claims he was pressured into signing that request after he had already spent nearly a year in isolation.

 

In his letter to the acting NSW corrections commissioner, seen by Guardian Australia, Duggan stated he was “being punished as if I was convicted of some heinous crime”.

 

“Of course, the main justification for granting a home detention order in my case is not really for me, it is for my children, wife and father-in-law who are under an enormous, unhealthy level of trauma and duress,” he said.

 

“I humbly request that you exercise your authority to grant me home detention so I can assist my family with household chores, like cleaning, cooking, washing up, doing the laundry and jobs that are required on the farm.”

 

Duggan said he had been trapped in a “continuous nightmare of segregated and isolated incarceration” since the Australian federal police arrested him on behalf of the US in his hometown of Orange in regional NSW in October last year.

 

“To those who irrationally suggest that I might be a flight risk and do not accept that the most valuable collateral of all are my six children, I submit that Australia … is the safest place for me to be,” he said.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 19, 2023, 2:50 a.m. No.20098565   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098559

 

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A Corrective Services NSW spokesperson has previously said the state “does not use” solitary confinement although they conceded Duggan was housed in a one-person cell with a small outside yard.

 

The spokesperson said the department “does not have the authority to release unsentenced inmates to home detention”. The department otherwise declined to comment on Duggan’s request.

 

In his letter, Duggan said former NSW premier Bob Carr had raised his case with the corrections minister, Anoulack Chanthivong, who advised him the corrections commissioner was “the person who is empowered” to release him into home detention.

 

Chanthivong declined to comment when contacted by Guardian Australia. Carr was unavailable to comment.

 

As well as a team of lawyers, Duggan has hired communications agency pCOMZ to manage publicity for his case, which hinges on counterclaims of a political conspiracy as well as a public pressure campaign featuring his family.

 

US authorities say emails, travel and payment records led them to believe Duggan provided unauthorised defence services to Chinese pilots by training them at a controversial test flying school in South Africa.

 

They argue Duggan was aware of the legal restrictions on the export of US defence services before he allegedly breached them by providing training services to the Chinese military.

 

US authorities almost missed the five-year statute of limitations during which they could file charges against Duggan who was indicted by a grand jury in 2017.

 

The indictment says Duggan breached arms control laws by training Chinese fighter pilots and that his “co-conspirators” bought a T-2 Buckeye aircraft from a US dealer to use for the training by providing false information.

 

The indictment also says Duggan gave a presentation in China in 2011 entitled “The Fighter Pilot’s Guide to Mission Success”.

 

Lawyer and Australian Army veteran Glenn Kolomeitz, who is acting as an advocate for the Duggan family, said it was “common” for former military personnel to give presentations of the kind Duggan allegedly gave in China.

 

Kolomeitz said Duggan worked at the South African flying school “providing training for Chinese civilian pilots” and “had no reason to believe otherwise”.

 

The federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has approved Duggan’s extradition request, meaning Duggan will be handed over to the US unless his legal team can prove his extradition is unlawful.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/19/daniel-duggan-home-detention-appeal-pilot-flight-risk

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 1:50 a.m. No.20103699   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3702

>>20098545

Anthony Albanese: peace of mind but no warship for Red Sea

 

CAMERON STEWART and BEN PACKHAM - DECEMBER 20, 2023

 

Anthony Albanese has declared Australia is not just an observer in the defence of global freedom and the rule-based order at the same time as his government is set to reject a US Navy request to send a warship to the Red Sea to help ­secure a vital trade route under ­attack from Iran-based militants.

 

Australia is expected to decline a US request to send a ­warship to the Red Sea after ­participating in a meeting overnight with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

 

The decision is political, coming despite assurances by the navy that it could send a warship to the Middle East if it was ordered to do so, and the Prime Minister’s declaration in a speech on Tuesday that “peace must be built, preserved, defended and upheld”.

 

Mr Austin has excluded Australia from a new 10-nation naval task force to help protect ­commercial shipping in the Red Sea after the Albanese ­government signalled it was reluctant to contribute a navy ship to the force.

 

Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell was due to represent Australia at a virtual meeting hosted by Mr Austin to discuss the new task force known as Operation Prosperity Guardian.

 

Instead of contributing a warship to the task force, as was originally requested by the US Navy, Australia is expected to contribute a handful of navy personnel to the Combined Maritime Forces headquarters to Bahrain to support the new force.

 

The Prime Minister told the Lowy Institute on Tuesday night that upholding Australia’s security involved “managing urgent and competing pressures and engaging with complex and fast-moving situations”.

 

He said the government’s decisions were “anchored in a strategic framework and shaped by an overarching vision for Australia’s future and our place in the world”.

 

Mr Albanese declared on Monday that “our first priority is in our own region”. But he told the Lowy Institute the government was also focused on the wider world, amid “new flashpoints, old fault lines, ongoing tests of the rules-based order and resurgent challenges to free societies”.

 

“It’s often said that what happens on the world stage matters to Australia,” the Prime Minister told the Lowy Institute.

 

“But we are not just observers of the interplay of others’ ambitions. And our foreign policy is not just a catalogue of things that happen to us. What Australia says and does on the world stage matters – to our security, our prosperity, to the strength and stability of the region we call home.”

 

Mr Albanese added: “Peace is always hard work – and defence and security are central to the task.”

 

Mr Austin announced the new taskforce to deal with attacks on shipping from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which threatened “the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law.”

 

“The Red Sea is a critical waterway that has been essential to freedom of navigation and a major commercial corridor that facilitates international trade,” Mr Austin said.

 

“Countries that seek to uphold the foundational principle of ­freedom of navigation must come ­together to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor launching ballistic missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles at ­merchant vessels from many nations lawfully transiting inter­national waters.”

 

The taskforce includes the UK, Canada, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.

 

Oil giant BP is the latest company to pause shipping through the Red Sea in response to missile and drone attacks by Houthi forces.

 

Houthi rebels attacked two more ships in the Red Sea on Monday after launching multiple drone attacks at the weekend which forced a US warship to shoot down 14 drones.

 

The commander of the Australian naval fleet, Rear Admiral Christopher Smith, declared last week the service was “ready to support any requirements that the government will ask of us”.

 

It’s understood that message was reiterated in recent days, with the navy telling the government that it could mobilise an Anzac-class frigate for the task force if necessary.

 

But Defence Minister Richard Marles has said the priority of the navy was Australia’s immediate region.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/anthony-albanese-peace-of-mind-but-no-warship-for-red-sea/news-story/83b900612a20c79d8d7eac1bced4c788

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 1:56 a.m. No.20103702   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3704

>>20098545

>>20103699

Why is the government afraid, unwilling or unable to send a warship to Red Sea when our allies ask?

 

CAMERON STEWART - DECEMBER 19, 2023

 

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The Albanese government’s all-but-certain decision to refuse a US Navy request to send a warship to the Red Sea is an embarrassment for Australia.

 

It signals to the world that Australia is no longer the reliable contributor to global security, the loyal ally or the consistent ­defender of the so-called rules-based order it once claimed to be. Instead, this likely decision reveals a timid and insular government, afraid, unwilling or unable to send a single – yes, that’s right – a single warship to the world’s most pressing maritime hot zone.

 

It goes against the grain of Australia’s proud history of making modest but symbolically important contributions to multinational deployments on matters clearly in Australia’s national ­interest.

 

And what, right now, could be more in Australia’s interests than ensuring the security of the vital sea lanes on the Red Sea, where more than 12 per cent of the world’s trade passes through, including many billions of dollars of Australian imports and exports?

 

Exactly why Australia would refuse such a request remains shrouded in mystery because this secretive government refuses to publicly explain its thinking ­beyond vague generalities about giving priority to our immediate region in its naval deployments.

 

The government is set to formally announce on Wednesday that it won’t send a warship, but it was waiting first to participate in a virtual joint conference with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and several other countries before making a final decision.

 

It has tried to justify its expected decision to refuse the initial US request for a warship by suggesting it wasn’t an urgent request from Washington because it came via the US Navy and therefore didn’t require a timely answer.

 

Mr Austin clearly disagrees, announcing on Tuesday a 10-country naval taskforce called Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea from fast-growing missile and drone attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

 

Mr Austin says the Red Sea crisis “threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law”, and “countries that seek to uphold the foundational principle of freedom of navigation must come together to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor”.

 

Sorry, Mr Austin, but Australia is no longer one of those countries. Never mind the fact like-minded nations such as the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Spain and Norway have joined the taskforce. In the week when critical legislation enabling AUKUS passed in the US congress, Australia is the only AUKUS member to refuse requests to send a ship to the Red Sea.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 1:57 a.m. No.20103704   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20103702

 

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The decision is all the more ­bizarre given the Australian Navy has vast experience in the ­region, having deployed warships to the Middle East almost continuously from the early 1990s to late 2020.

 

These have operated across the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Western Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

 

In the absence of available facts, it is no surprise rumours are sweeping Canberra that the government could not actually deploy a single warship at short notice over the Christmas period.

 

Did we not have any of the eight Anzac frigates or three air warfare destroyers ready to go? Did we not have a full crew ready and available for deployment? Is it too hard to cancel Christmas leave or do we have a navy that can’t go to war during public holidays?

 

Is it because the Red Sea is a “hot zone”, where an Australian warship might have to fire a shot in anger or be fired upon? Is no Australian ship equipped to race to a conflict zone at short notice?

 

All of these questions are hanging in the air because the government refuses to address them directly. The stated reason for refusing the US request for a warship was that the navy is giving priority to Australia’s immediate region. Well, yes, but that regional focus doesn’t vanish just because one ship is deployed further afield.

 

The US was not asking for a fleet, it was asking for a single ship to operate in an area where the navy has proven expertise.

 

The reason all of these questions are being asked is that confidence in the government’s ability to manage the navy is at rock bottom. The same government that says we face the most dire strategic circumstances for 50 years has given no extra money for defence and can’t even make decisions on the future structure of the navy’s surface fleet, having deliberated on it now for more than eight months.

 

The consequence of this policy slumber is that Australia’s military clout is shrinking and its ability to contribute to vital global issues is fading.

 

It means Australian sailors will be watching Netflix at home this summer rather than trying to protect vital Australian trade routes from terror attacks.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/why-is-the-government-afraid-unwilling-or-unable-to-send-a-warship-to-red-sea-when-our-allies-ask/news-story/8a4a1caa068b841b49af3489910c76ee

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 2:14 a.m. No.20103721   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3726 >>8499 >>3773

>>20098526

ABC presenter Antoinette Lattouf sacked after anti-Israel social media posts

 

SOPHIE ELSWORTH - DECEMBER 20, 2023

 

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The ABC has sacked fill-in Sydney mornings radio host Antoinette Lattouf after she breached the taxpayer-funded broadcaster’s social media code by posting anti-Israel comments.

 

The Australian can reveal that Lattouf who was filling in this week was told by management just shortly after she finished hosting the program on Wednesday morning that she would not be allowed to return for the rest of the week.

 

It is understood ABC chair Ita Buttrose – who has received many complaints about Lattouf – is “furious” she was put in the fill-in position given her prolific conduct on social media and her pro-Palestinian stance.

 

Many complaints have also been sent to the ABC board and managing director David Anderson and Lattouf has continued to upload a series of pro-Palestinian posts on her social media accounts including X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

 

It is understood ABC management were extremely concerned the presenter’s activism on social media and which she has plastered across her account over the past two months.

 

The public broadcaster received numerous complaints about her commentary – these complaints were sent directly to Ms Buttrose and managing director David Anderson this week and its understood crisis talks were held on Wednesday about Lattouf’s conduct online.

 

An ABC spokesman confirmed Lattouf, who is of Lebanese heritage, would not be returning to the show again which she started hosting on Monday and was filling in for Sarah Macdonald.

 

“ABC Sydney casual presenter Antoinette Lattouf will not be back on air for her remaining two shifts this week,” he said.

 

Under the ABC’s social media guidelines employees must “protect the ABC’s reputation, independence, impartiality and integrity.”

 

Lattouf drew intense criticism after she has repeatedly said videos of pro-Palestine protesters chanting “gas the Jews” at the Sydney Opera House in October were unverified.

 

“Despite the enormous amount of attention and considerable response to the reports, third parties have been unable to verify the “gas the Jews” claim, and further footage corroborating the chants has failed to emerge,” Lattouf wrote in an article with Cam Wilson that published on the Crikey website last week.

 

This comes despite NSW police being provided with testimony from witnesses at the event who said they heard the chant “gas the Jews.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 2:17 a.m. No.20103726   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20103721

 

2/2

 

Lattouf also joined hundreds of journalists and signed the controversial open letter, calling for all Australian newsrooms to treat unverified information from the democratically-elected government of Israel and terror group Hamas with the same “professional scepticism.”

 

ABC news director Justin Stevens later emailed staff and told them impartiality would be required when reporting on the conflict in Israel: “You should not sign any ­petition that may bring into question your impartiality or that of the ABC’s coverage. Signing this petition may bring into question your ability to cover the story impartially.”

 

Despite this, the ABC still proceeded with having Lattouf as a presenter on its radio network.

 

Multiple sources from within the ABC, who did not wish to be named, told The Australian that ABC Radio Sydney manager Steve Ahern appointed Lattouf to the role as a fill-in presenter.

 

Ben Latimer is responsible for the ABC’s radio arm and was appointed at the head of audio content in July.

 

It is understood management will be reviewing how this occurred in the weeks to come.

 

The fallout also comes just a week after the ABC’s youth music channel was in turmoil after airing a controversial segment including the song ‘Long Live Palestine’ and claims from an Indigenous guest presenter there is “genocide and oppression and continued hate towards Palestine people”.

 

All Triple J guest presenters have been axed following the comments by Miss Kaninna, a Yorta Yorta, Djadja Wurrung, Yirendali and Kalkadoon musician and Triple j Unearthed artist.

 

ABC Middle East correspondent Tom Joyner was also investigated by the ABC after he posted offensive comments to a WhatsApp group with hundreds of international journalists in October and said that claims of babies in Israel being beheaded by Hamas terrorists were “bullshit”.

 

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said: “Lattouf has consistently used her platform to spread disinformation about Israel and to gaslight the Jewish community.

 

“Her irresponsible posts encouraged denial of the mob anti-Semitism we witnessed on the Opera House steps and fed anti-Semitic theories about Jewish dishonesty and manipulation.

 

“The national broadcaster understandably determined she didn’t meet their journalistic standards and would have used her position to cause greater harm.”

 

Lattouf was a fill-in host for five days, but only ended up being on air for three days after management took action.

 

Lattouf has been contacted for comment.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/abc-presenter-antoinette-lattouf-sacked-after-antiisrael-social-media-posts/news-story/1d96ccc2d21af0011e7fcced87275ee4

 

https://www.tiktok.com/@antoinette_lattouf/video/7299733657395137793

 

https://twitter.com/antoinette_news/status/1734744311408017682

 

https://www.instagram.com/antoinette_lattouf/p/C0oXlmOS7e5/

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 2:19 a.m. No.20103729   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese holds first official meeting with New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon

 

Tom Crowley - 20 December 2023

 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with newly elected New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon in Sydney today.

 

It is the first in-person meeting between the leaders since Mr Luxon was sworn in last month.

 

The pair discussed Mr Luxon's interest in exploring opportunities to participate in technology sharing under the AUKUS partnership between Australia, the UK and the US.

 

Mr Albanese said he was supportive of opportunities for greater co-operation between the two countries' defence forces.

 

The two leaders spoke warmly of their relationship, with Mr Albanese noting they had known each other for "a very long period of time", dating back to Mr Luxon's tenure as the chief executive of Air New Zealand, which overlapped with Mr Albanese's period as transport minister.

 

Mr Luxon thanked Mr Albanese for his recent decision to make it easier for New Zealanders to gain Australian citizenship.

 

"Just putting it out there, I think they're probably your best migrants," Mr Luxon said.

 

Mr Luxon, who leads the conservative National Party, became prime minister after weeks of negotiations with minor parties, resulting in a coalition with the ACT Party and the NZ First.

 

His first actions in the job included disbanding the Maori Health Service, reducing the use of Maori language in the public service, and announcing plans to repeal legislation to outlaw tobacco smoking.

 

Those decisions prompted accusations from Maori Party co-leader Hauauru Debbie Ngarewa-Packer that the government had deteriorated race relations to their worst level "since the earliest stages of colonisation".

 

Asked about those comments today, Mr Luxon said his government had a "difference of opinion" with the Maori Party and did not believe a separate health authority would deliver good outcomes.

 

Mr Albanese said he had "no intention of commenting on domestic New Zealand politics", but re-affirmed his own government's commitment to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

 

Last week, Mr Albanese and Mr Luxon joined with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call for "urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-20/anthony-albanese-new-zealand-christopher-luxon-meeting/103249888

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 2:35 a.m. No.20103739   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3745

Julian Assange's 'final' appeal against U.S. extradition to be held in February

 

Michael Holden - December 19, 2023

 

LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange's possible final legal challenge to stop his extradition from Britain to the United States where he is wanted on criminal charges will be held at London's High Court in February, his supporters said on Tuesday.

 

Assange, 52, is wanted by U.S. authorities on 18 counts, including one under a spying act, relating to WikiLeaks' release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables which Washington said had put lives in danger.

 

Britain has given the go-ahead for his extradition, but he has been trying to overturn that decision. Campaigners said a public hearing would take place at the High Court on Feb. 20-21 when two judges will review an earlier ruling which had refused Assange permission to appeal.

 

"The two-day hearing may be the final chance for Julian Assange to prevent his extradition to the United States," WikiLeaks said in a statement.

 

WikiLeaks first came to prominence in 2010 when it released hundreds of thousands of secret classified files and diplomatic cables in what was the largest security breach of its kind in U.S. military history, which U.S. prosecutors say imperilled the lives of agents named in the leaked material.

 

Assange's supporters say he is an anti-establishment hero who has been victimised because he exposed U.S. wrongdoing, and that his prosecution is an assault on journalism and free speech.

 

He spent seven years holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London before he was dragged out and jailed in 2019 for breaching bail conditions. He has been held in prison ever since while his extradition case is decided.

 

His lawyers have also applied to the European Court of Human Rights which could potentially order the extradition to be blocked.

 

"The last four and a half years have taken the most considerable toll on Julian and his family, including our two young sons," said his wife Stella, who he married in prison.

 

"The persecution of this innocent journalist and publisher must end."

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/julian-assanges-final-appeal-against-us-extradition-be-held-february-2023-12-19/

 

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1737067511596662897

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 2:39 a.m. No.20103745   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3748

>>20103739

US officials monitored pro-Assange protests in Australia for ‘anti-US sentiment’, documents reveal

 

Previously classified papers detail how the US embassy in Canberra responded to WikiLeaks’ release of embassy cables in 2010 and ‘sensationalist’ local media

 

Christopher Knaus - 20 Dec 2023

 

1/2

 

American officials monitored pro-Assange protests in Australia for “anti-US sentiment”, warned of “increasing sympathy, particularly on the left” for the WikiLeaks founder in his home country and derided local media’s “sensationalist” reporting of the explosive 2010 cable leaks, previously classified records show.

 

Documents released by the US state department via freedom of information laws give new insight into how the US embassy in Canberra and its security team reacted to WikiLeaks’ release of 250,000 embassy cables in late 2010.

 

They show the embassy’s regional security office (RSO) monitoring and reporting on pro-WikiLeaks rallies held across Australian capital cities, feeding information to Washington via the embassy.

 

“The demonstrations have all been peaceful and generally numbers in the range of a few hundred persons. Embassy RSO notes the rallies have featured very little, if any, anti-American sentiment,” the US embassy cable, dated 17 December 2010, reads. “Wikileaks supporters held a recent demonstration in Canberra’s central business district and made no attempt to march to the US Embassy or direct any ire at other American interests.”

 

The cable also gives an appraisal on the level of sympathy held for Assange in Australia.

 

“Assange is gaining increasingly sympathy particularly on the left,” it reads.

 

Embassy officials also derided local media coverage of the 2010 cables as “sensationalist” and unserious.

 

The embassy was particularly critical of Australian media’s reporting of cables that showed the US government was closely watching the rise of the then deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard.

 

“Media continues to have a field day with the leaked cables,” the US embassy reported. “A few moderating voices can be heard. Michael Fullilove of the Lowy Institution, Australia’s highest profile think tank, while calling the leaks ‘fascinating’, also termed Wikileaks’ conduct reckless in a blog post.

 

“But for the most part, sensationalist headlines are drowning out Fullilove and other reasonable observers. For every serious story about Australian involvement in Afghanistan, for example, there are twice as many about the fact that [US government] contacts told us that (to no one’s surprise) Julia Gillard, while deputy prime minister, harbored ambition to be the prime minister.”

 

The embassy also reported back to Washington that the Australian federal police had concluded the cables revealed no crimes that were in its jurisdiction to investigate.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 2:41 a.m. No.20103748   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20103745

 

2/2

 

The document was released to Italian investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi, who waged an eight-year FoI battle with the US state department to obtain it. Maurizi shared the document with Guardian Australia.

 

The cable is the result of a lengthy, expensive FoI battle by Maurizi, supported by the Logan Foundation and her lawyers, Lauren Russell and Alia Smith. She said it provided “indisputable evidence that the U.S. diplomacy’s Regional Security Office (RSO) in Canberra was monitoring the peaceful protests in support of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks in December 2010, as WikiLeaks had just started publishing the most important cables on Australia”.

 

“We know that the Regional Security Office protects U.S. diplomatic facilities, personnel and information, which is a legitimate activity, at the same time, one wonders what kind of monitoring activities were devised against peaceful protesters: were they identified? Were they intercepted? Were their donations to WikiLeaks tracked?” she said. “These are important questions, considering that we now know that later on, in 2017, Julian Assange, his wife, Stella … the WikiLeaks journalists, lawyers, doctors, and even we media partners were subjected to unprecedented spying activities inside the Ecuadorian embassy.”

 

The Italian journalist first filed an FoI request in February 2018, but it was ignored for two years, prompting her to sue the US state department.

 

She has filed similar FoI requests across the world, including in Australia, which she described as “the worst jurisdiction on earth when it comes to FOIA [Freedom of Information Act]”.

 

Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, said he had always imagined that the US was monitoring pro-Assange activities in Australia. He said that the campaign for Assange’s release relied on that feedback mechanism.

 

“I think in terms of the message that we want to send to the US, that the Australian public and the Australian people are on Julian’s side, it’s almost good that they’re monitoring and feeding it back into their system,” he said. “Part of the campaign, we rely on that infrastructure that they have through their embassies and state department, around the world, not just in Australia, there are protests in Mexico City, outside the US embassy, even in Slovenia, places all around the world where there are pro-Assange protests.”

 

Assange’s lawyers are suing the Central Intelligence Agency over the alleged espionage at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, saying it violated their US constitutional protections for confidential discussions with Assange.

 

The US embassy in Australia was approached for comment.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/dec/20/us-officials-monitored-pro-assange-protests-in-australia-for-anti-us-sentiment-documents-reveal

 

https://twitter.com/SMaurizi/status/1737407264737091992

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 2:48 a.m. No.20103761   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3764

>>20092945

Witness Fiona Brown says Brittany Higgins ‘didn’t tell me she had been raped’

 

JOANNA PANAGOPOULOS - DECEMBER 19, 2023

 

1/2

 

Former Liberal staffer Fiona Brown has repeatedly denied Brittany Higgins told her she had been raped by Bruce Lehrmann in their first meeting following the alleged assault in Parliament House.

 

The former chief of staff to Linda Reynolds told the Federal Court on Monday that she first became concerned about the “possibility” of a rape in the ministerial ­office after a Parliamentary Services official told her Ms Higgins had been found naked on the Liberal senator’s couch.

 

Ms Brown also said “her ­antenna was up” after Mr Lehrmann had told her that he had gone back to Parliament House to drink whisky in the early hours of Saturday, March 23, 2019.

 

In a late-night hearing on Monday to ensure Ms Brown would not be traumatised by multiple days at court due to concerns about her mental state, the ex-Liberal staffer repeatedly said she “couldn’t rule it in, couldn’t rule it out” that Ms Higgins had been sexually assaulted.

 

Ms Brown categorically denied that Ms Higgins told her in their first meeting on March 26 after the alleged incident that “he (Mr Lehrmann) was on top of me” or that she had been raped.

 

Ms Brown told the court that Ms Higgins’ demeanour had changed during the first meeting when she saw a code of conduct and an employee assistance handbook on Ms Brown’s desk.

 

“She saw the papers on my desk and I could see her eyes shifting,” Ms Brown said. “She was thinking quickly on her feet.”

 

In a later meeting on March 28, 2019, Ms Brown said Ms Higgins then told her that Mr Lehrmann had been “on top” of her. Ms Brown told the court she was shocked and when she asked Ms Higgins what she meant by that statement, her junior staffer replied: “I am responsible for what I drink and my actions.”

 

Television presenter Lisa Wilkinson’s lawyer Sue Chrysanthou cross-examined Ms Brown in the Federal Court on Monday, with a YouTube live­stream that has played throughout the trial turned off due to the witness’s fragile health.

 

Mr Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and presenter Lisa Wilkinson over her interview with Ms Higgins on The Project in 2021, detailing accu­sations that Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins on March 23, 2019, but not naming him as the ­alleged attacker. Mr Lehrmann has consistently denied raping Ms Higgins.

 

Earlier in court, veteran Ten Network news boss Peter Meakin conceded The Project should have gone back to Ms Higgins after it received a contemporaneous email the night before the broadcast that showed Ms Brown had “supported” Ms Higgins in going to police.

 

Mr Meakin said an email of contemporaneous notes between a Parliamentary Services official and Ms Brown “certainly tells a different narrative” than the one presented by Wilkinson’s interview with Ms Higgins, and agreed that if he had read the email, it would have been “obviously important to go and check this account with Ms Higgins”.

 

Ms Brown told the court on Monday that when she heard Ms Higgins was found naked in the then defence industry minister’s office, it “crossed her mind” that Ms Higgins might have been assaulted. “I couldn’t rule it out, and I couldn’t rule it in,” she added.

 

In her first meeting with Ms Higgins, Ms Brown said she gave Ms Higgins a brochure for an Employee Assistance Program but denied the reason was because Ms Higgins told her she had been assaulted. “Nope,” she responded, when asked.

 

When pressed about whether she suspected from what she was told in that meeting that Ms Higgins had been assaulted, Ms Brown said: “It was a possibility.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 2:49 a.m. No.20103764   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20103761

 

2/2

 

Ms Chrysanthou asked her whether Ms Higgins was told to take a few days off because she told Ms Brown she was assaulted.

 

“(The) advice from department was she had been found naked … it was the appropriate thing to do,” she said instead.

 

Ms Brown would not admit Ms Higgins was “crying” in that meeting, or that she was hysterically crying, only that she had “water in her eyes” for which she offered her a tissue.

 

Asked why she didn’t press Ms Higgins on why she was naked, she said she “wasn’t there to interview the staff”.

 

“I was there to make inquiries about what their version was, what the department had told me, and I would let the department know,” she said.

 

Ms Brown said, based on a text from Ms Higgins a few days later, she understood she had been “in the office drunk” and naked, and was vocalising that she was ­embarrassed.

 

Just before her meeting with Ms Higgins, she had a meeting with Mr Lehrmann.

 

Ms Brown told the court she was largely concerned about the security implications of the pair coming to parliament in the middle of the night. “He was just a 23 year-old, immature staffer. I did not think anything other than that,” she said.

 

She said she didn’t necessarily think Mr Lehrmann was lying but that her “antenna was up” when he said he came back to Parliament House to drink whisky.

 

“One thought I did have was ‘has he come back here to access files?’”, she said.

 

Ms Brown was asked whether after her meeting with Mr Lehrmann – and witnessing his behaviour during that meeting – whether it entered her mind that Ms Higgins had been assaulted.

 

“I couldn’t rule it in and I couldn’t rule it out. I hadn’t spoke to the other staff member (Ms Higgins),” she said.

 

When pressed, she said “Yes, it had entered my mind”.

 

Ms Brown told the court that, in a further meeting on March 28, Ms Higgins said, in a casual manner, that she remembered Mr Lehrmann was on top of her.

 

Ms Brown said she was shocked. “I did not know what she meant by that,” she said.

 

She said Ms Higgins also told her during that conversation: “I am responsible for what I drink and my actions.”

 

Ms Brown said she didn’t include it in her notes but should have.

 

Earlier in the day, the court heard an email was forwarded to The Project producer Angus Llewellyn from the Prime Minister’s office the day before the broadcast. It was a copy of an email chain between a Department of Parliamentary Services assistant secretary and Ms Brown. It stated that: “Should (Ms Higgins) choose to, she’s able to pursue a complaint, including a complaint made to the police and that to do so would be within her rights … She would have the full and ongoing support of yourself and the minister.”

 

Mr Meakin said the email “certainly tells a different narrative” and agreed that if he had read the email, it would have been “obviously important to go and check this account with Ms Higgins”.

 

“It would have been desirable, yes, (to check her account).”

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/witness-fiona-brown-says-brittany-higgins-didnt-tell-me-she-had-been-raped/news-story/1bc39d826637b372916ed4380b94a031

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 2:55 a.m. No.20103774   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8473

>>20092945

Linda Reynolds to seek freeze on Brittany Higgins’ assets as her former staffer leaves for new life in France

 

GRACE MACPHERSON - DECEMBER 20, 2023

 

Former Liberal Minister Linda Reynolds will apply for freezing orders against Brittany Higgins after her former staffer flew out of the country this week to start a new life in France with her fiance, David Sharaz.

 

Senator Reynolds, who is suing both Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz for defamation, will ask the Supreme Court of Western Australia for the orders, which restrain a party to a case from selling or moving assets while a legal action is still in process.

 

Ms Higgins has reportedly bought her first home in a small village in the south of France, following her $2.4 million compensation settlement with the Commonwealth.

 

The couple said goodbye to family and friends at Brisbane International Airport on Monday night, flying to Singapore before boarding a connecting flight to France, where it is reported Ms Higgins plans to study and learn the language.

 

The property is reportedly located in the village of Lunas, in France and is a six-hour train ride from Paris and four hours from Barcelona in Spain.

 

Ms Higgins, her parents Kelly and Matthew, and Mr Sharaz all wore white outfits at the airport – the women’s suffragette colour, which Ms Higgins wore at the Women’s March for Justice in March.

 

Senator Reynolds has launched defamation actions against Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz over their comments about the senator in social media posts. In Ms Higgins’ allegedly defamatory Instagram story, she criticised her former boss for continuing “to harass me through the media and in the parliament”.

 

West Australian Supreme Court judge Marcus Solomon has previously urged the parties to do their best to settle the matter, warning of the immense financial and human cost of a protracted trial.

 

On Tuesday, lawyers for Senator Reynolds wrote to Ms Higgins’ lawyer Leon Zwier, referring to media reports she and Mr Sharaz had left the country. “If such reports are true, we consider that an application for freezing orders is appropriate. Please advise as a matter of urgency your client’s intentions in respect of her travel to France and your availability to confer in respect of our client’s proposed application.”

 

Lawyers described the amount and speed of the settlement – finalised just days after Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial was abandoned in the ACT ­Supreme Court – as “extraordinary” and “unprecedented”.

 

The deed of settlement ­between Ms Higgins and the ­commonwealth was released last week in the defamation trial brought by Bruce Lehrmann against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson over Ms Higgins’ ­allegation on The Project that she was raped by him in Parliament House in 2019, after her lawyers successfully asked that personal medical information be excluded.

 

The one-day mediation took place 10 days after ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane ­Drumgold announced he would not be proceeding with a retrial of rape charges due to Ms Higgins’ mental health.

 

The deed shows that the total amount paid to Ms Higgins was $2.445m – $1.48m for loss of earning capacity for 40 years; $400,000 for hurt, distress and humiliation; $220,000 for medical expenses; $100,000 for “past and future domestic assistance”; and $245,000 for legal costs.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/brittany-higgins-david-sharaz-leave-australia-to-start-new-life-in-france/news-story/2252cf1bb78bce331c6c7e140a7e51d4

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 3 a.m. No.20103781   🗄️.is 🔗kun

HIV-positive pedophile Jadd William Brooker jailed for 36 years with order to serve 29 years before becoming eligible for parole

 

The pedophile guilty of 182 “exceptionally grave” crimes against 96 children around the world will serve the second-longest sentence ever imposed in Australia.

 

Sean Fewster - November 27, 2023

 

An HIV-positive pedophile syndicate leader’s 182 crimes against 96 children around the world deserve the second-longest sentence ever imposed in Australia for child sex offending, a court has ruled.

 

On Thursday, the Supreme Court jailed Jadd William Brooker for 36 years, ordering he serve 29 years before becoming eligible for parole.

 

Brooker’s term is only slightly shorter than that of fellow predator and “child collector” Ruecha Tokputza, who is serving 40 years behind bars.

 

In sentencing, Justice Adam Kimber said Brooker must be denounced for his “abhorrent, horrific” offending and others must be deterred from following in his footsteps.

 

“Your offending is exceptionally grave, the victims are almost too many to count,” he said.

 

“You contributed to the demand for child exploitation material, you participated in that market.

 

“Child sex offending in any form is abhorrent, all of society is degraded by it.

 

“You have placed at risk the wellbeing and future potential of every victim.”

 

Outside court, one of Brooker’s victims – known as “BP” – said listening to Justice Kimber’s 90-minute sentencing was a debilitating experience.

 

“We were horrified, we were sick to our stomachs … I would dare say he is SA’s most notorious, prolific pedophile … he is a vile, vile man,” he said.

 

“He committed some of the worst (crimes) I’ve ever seen, and I helped put him away … it’s a closing point on everything, really.”

 

“I broke down in tears … some of the victims are no longer with us … their stories are unable to be told or heard, they are unable to speak for themselves.

 

“I hope that this is a life sentence for him and that he will never, never be able to get out and do more damage.”

 

Brooker, 41, pleaded guilty to 182 sexual abuse and exploitation charges following his arrest, in 2020, by SA’s elite Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team.

 

He had more than 20 victims across Australia and around the world – some of whom he tried to infect with HIV.

 

Brooker filmed himself in these attempts, prompting JACET to dub his crimes “the worst and most degrading” they had investigated up to that point.

 

He compiled 4.5 million images and 50,000 messages of child exploitation – which he asked family to delete following his arrest – as the centre of an online pedophile syndicate.

 

Brooker’s victims described him, in their statements to the court, as “an evil parasite” who “left a piece of himself” in every child whose innocence he destroyed.

 

The court also heard expert mental health evidence that his crimes could have escalated to trafficking babies and toddlers for sex had he not been apprehended.

 

Prosecutors urged the court to jail Brooker indefinitely as an uncontrollable predator, using laws created following a campaign by victim advocates and The Advertiser.

 

On Friday, Justice Kimber opted to set Brooker a non-parole period, but noted his prospects of rehabilitation were “guarded” at best and his risk of reoffending “particularly high”.

 

He said Brooker’s “horrific” offences spanned bestiality, necrophilia, scatological perversion and making one boy the subject of “a bidding war” between pedophiles.

 

It also involved the degrading abuse and torture of babies and toddlers, “power disparity”, “breaches of trust” and “exploitation of the most egregious fashion”.

 

Justice Kimber said that, if not for laws regarding harsh sentences, five of Brooker’s offences would have warranted a 40-year prison term on their own.

 

“Your pleas of guilty are the most significant factor in your favour – otherwise, there is very little that can be said that is positive … it’s overwhelmed by your prolific offending,” he said.

 

“You pose a grave risk to children and, if you are to reform, the journey will be a long one.”

 

Outside court, Commissioner for Victims’ Rights Sarah Quick said the sentence reflected the “significant harm” suffered by abuse survivors and their families.

 

“Nothing can erase the lifelong harm caused by this horrific and degrading offending … offenders such as Brooker destroy innocence and create countless victims,” she said.

 

“Hopefully the victims feel secure in the knowledge that this sentence will prevent Brooker from harming other children.”

 

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-sa/jadd-william-brooker-jailed-for-36-years-with-order-to-serve-29-years-before-becoming-eligible-for-parole/news-story/55198bbca43931e7424a4e69cda82ab0

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 20, 2023, 3:18 a.m. No.20103801   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8544 >>8558

Jeffrey Epstein associates to be named after US judge rules court documents should be unsealed in full

 

Andrew Thorpe - 20 December 2023

 

A US federal judge has ruled court documents revealing the names of more than 170 people linked to a case regarding disgraced American financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should be "unsealed in full".

 

The documents, which relate to a 2015 defamation lawsuit filed by victim Virginia Giuffre against Epstein's accomplice and former partner Ghislaine Maxwell, are due to be made public on January 1, giving those identified in the case time to appeal the judge's ruling.

 

Those set to be identified range from high-profile Epstein associates, including at least one public figure whose name is said to have appeared in Epstein's infamous "little black book", to alleged co-conspirators, to innocent people mentioned in passing in deposition transcripts.

 

Manhattan district judge Loretta Preska issued the ruling on Monday, going into detail on each of the individuals identified in the documents and weighing each of their interests against the public's presumption of access to judicial records.

 

She kept sealed documents relating to a small number of victims who were underage at the time of the offences committed against them, and who have sought to maintain their privacy in the years following the public revelation of Epstein's crimes.

 

Legal fight over sealed names lasted years

 

The defamation case in question was filed in 2015 by Australia-based victim Virginia Giuffre, who alleged she was defamed by Maxwell when Maxwell denied her claims she was forced by Epstein into providing sexual services for wealthy and powerful men when she was a teenager.

 

The case was settled in 2017 for an undisclosed sum of money, reportedly in the millions of dollars, however the legal fight over whether documents from the case should remain sealed continued for years, with Maxwell's lawyers only last year dropping their fight for a number of names to be kept secret.

 

Ms Giuffre had previously told the ABC she was "very angry" that several names from an April 2016 deposition of Maxwell, including that of Britain's Prince Andrew, had been kept sealed as part of a separate release of court documents related to the case.

 

Ms Giuffre last year settled a civil case brought against the prince, who she claimed sexually abused her on multiple occasions at Epstein's and Maxwell's properties, including when she was underage.

 

Prince Andrew strongly denies the claims and has never been criminally charged.

 

Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison after being convicted in 2021 of recruiting and grooming underage victims for Epstein between 1994 and 2004.

 

Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, with his cause of death listed as suicide.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-20/jeffrey-epstein-names-identities-unsealed-court-documents/103249734

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-23/virginia-giuffre-ghislaine-maxwell-court-documents-epstein/12803180

 

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/giuffre-v-maxwell/?order_by=desc

 

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1315.0.pdf

 

https://qanon.pub/#4568

 

https://qanon.pub/?q=Dearest%20Virginia

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 1:31 a.m. No.20108451   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8452

Terror leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika to walk free after Supreme Court order

 

David Estcourt and Angus Thompson - December 19, 2023

 

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Convicted terror cell leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika will walk free from prison on Tuesday on a strict supervision order, ending a years-long legal battle waged by the government to keep him behind bars beyond his sentence.

 

Benbrika’s lawyers successfully argued the notorious Muslim cleric should be released from a continuing detention order, which has kept him inside Barwon Prison since 2020, after he finished serving a 15-year sentence for terror offences. The government subsequently agreed but has since opened the door to challenging the supervision order, which includes fewer conditions and covers a smaller period than the government originally requested.

 

Supreme Court judge Elizabeth Hollingworth said the government and Benbrika’s lawyers agreed he should be subject to an extended supervision order (ESO) and released into the community because of his reduced risk of offending.

 

”The evidence clearly establishes, and the Attorney-General quite clearly accepts, that Mr Benbrika has been making substantial progress towards de-radicalisation in recent years,” Hollingworth said.

 

“The risk of offending is now low enough that it can be managed by Mr Benbrika living in the community on a strict ESO.”

 

Benbrika will be on the ESO for one year. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said in a statement after the ruling that while he welcomed the court’s decision to impose an ESO, it did not include every condition sought by the government nor did it exist for the three-year period he had applied for.

 

“This application was made in accordance with advice from all operational agencies involved in the matter, including the Australian Federal Police,” Dreyfus said.

 

“The government will carefully consider the court’s written reasons when published, in consultation with the Commonwealth’s lawyers and our security and law enforcement agencies, before determining next steps.”

 

The 30 conditions include a curfew, living at a specific address that he cannot change without permission from authorities and answering the door when called upon by police. He must also continue receiving psychological treatment and continue to engage with de-radicalisation programs.

 

His treating psychologists may also disclose any information that might concern the safety of people in the community, he must wear an electronic monitoring device, and he must not associate or communicate with people who live in certain countries, who are in prison or who have been convicted of terror offences.

 

Benbrika can also only start working or volunteering with the permission of federal police, has strict rules around financial transactions and is prohibited from making public speeches about certain topics.

 

He is also subject to strict conditions regarding the use of mobile phones and other electronic devices, and cannot possess weapons and other objects which could be used as weapons.

 

Federal police can also perform searches to ensure Benbrika’s compliance with the conditions.

 

Benbrika, an Algerian grandfather who goes by Nacer, appeared from Barwon Prison’s Piper Unit, a prison unit designed for dangerous offenders, in a blue robe to watch the hearing in the Supreme Court. He is expected to be released later on Tuesday.

 

Following a federal police operation, Benbrika was convicted in 2009 of directing a terrorist organisation. A jury found him guilty of being the spiritual leader of a terror cell with members in Melbourne and Sydney that planned attacks on Australian soil.

 

Benbrika’s group discussed carrying out attacks because it wanted the Australian government to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. No attacks were ever carried out.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 1:32 a.m. No.20108452   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20108451

 

2/2

 

It is often reported that Benbrika was linked to plots to bomb iconic Melbourne targets, such as the MCG, Crown Casino and the NAB Cup. This evidence, provided by witness Izzydeen Atik, was rejected by the court in 2009, and Atik was found to be “a liar, a cheat and a fraudster” attempting to reduce his own sentence by supplying the information.

 

Benbrika’s ongoing detention has presented considerable political and legal complications for the government since 2020.

 

The court heard that over the past few years, Benbrika has participated in de-radicalisation programs, engaged with prison psychologists and consistently spoke with an Islamic scholar who had successfully challenged his strict interpretation of Islamic doctrine.

 

Last week, the former watchdog for Australia’s national security laws, Grant Donaldson, SC, labelled the Commonwealth’s treatment of Benbrika a disgrace and criticised his continued detention using the government’s risk assessment tool, VERA-2R.

 

In his final report, Donaldson said the government had failed to explain why it had concealed a secret report criticising the efficacy of VERA-2R. Donaldson also called for an inquiry to examine the government’s withholding of crucial evidence about the VERA-2R.

 

VERA-2R – the Violent Extremism Risk Assessment 2 Revised – is used to measure the threat posed by extremists, often when determining whether they should be subject to restrictions once they have completed their prison sentence.

 

Hollingworth said on Tuesday that the government repeatedly failed to disclose the report to the court or Benbrika’s lawyers in breach of obligations under national security legislation.

 

Dreyfus said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who had carriage of the case when he was home affairs minister, had been repeatedly criticised for his handling of the matter.

 

“Just this morning, the court noted that Mr Dutton engaged in a ‘serious breach’ of the Criminal Code by withholding evidence from Mr Benbrika and the court in 2020. After this failure was exposed in late 2022, Mr Benbrika sought a review of his continuing detention order – making this case much more complicated than it needed to be,” he said.

 

Dutton was contacted for comment.

 

The court also heard that the current government had consistently failed to comply with deadlines to provide documents to the court and had not disclosed several other relevant reports.

 

Hollingworth labelled the government’s conduct “totally unacceptable,” saying it “does not reflect well on the government”. She said she intended to report the instances of non-disclosure to the new national security watchdog to examine the government’s breaches.

 

Benbrika’s lawyer, Doogue + George partner Isabelle Skaburskis, reiterated calls for an inquiry into the “miscarriage of justice” that Benbrika has been subject to over the VERA-2R controversy.

 

She said that Benbrika intends to comply wholeheartedly with the onerous conditions that have been imposed and will continue to engage fully with therapeutic interventions.

 

“Both experts found that Mr Benbrika has made significant progress towards complete deradicalisation. Dr Anne Speckhard, renowned international expert in violent extremism, has found that Benbrika poses a low risk of reoffending,” she said.

 

The application was stalled due to Benbrika’s ultimately successful High Court bid to overturn a law allowing the federal government to strip him of his Australian citizenship, prompting Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil to pass new laws placing the power to do so with the courts.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/court-orders-release-of-terror-leader-abdul-nacer-benbrika-on-strict-conditions-20231218-p5esbm.html

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 1:48 a.m. No.20108466   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8467

>>20092945

Judge says parts of Higgins, Lehrmann evidence ‘simply can’t be accepted’

 

Michaela Whitbourn and Harriet Alexander - December 21, 2023

 

1/3

 

The judge presiding over Bruce Lehrmann’s high-stakes defamation case has said it appears parts of the evidence of both the former Liberal staffer and his former colleague Brittany Higgins, who has accused him of sexual assault, “simply can’t be accepted”.

 

Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an interview with Higgins, aired on The Project on February 15, 2021, that he says suggests he is guilty of raping Higgins in Parliament House in March 2019. Lehrmann has denied there was any sexual activity.

 

The case entered its final days on Thursday as the parties delivered their closing addresses in Sydney before Federal Court Justice Michael Lee.

 

Credit issues

 

In an insight into his approach to deciding the case, Lee said that “one of the challenges in this case, it seems to me, is that the two principal witnesses [Lehrmann and Higgins] have real credit issues” and “various parts of each witness’s evidence simply can’t be accepted, it seems to me”.

 

“We agree,” Ten’s barrister, Dr Matt Collins, KC, said.

 

“We’ll seek to persuade your honour that there is a qualitative difference between the dishonesty of Mr Lehrmann and the successful credit attacks that were levelled at Ms Higgins.”

 

Collins said Higgins had conceded some errors or discrepancies in her accounts but “it did stand to her credit that she was prepared to acknowledge past errors and correct them”, while Lehrmann was “revealed to be a fundamentally dishonest man”.

 

There was no suggestion Higgins “has ever wavered in any material respect” in her central allegation, Collins said. He submitted her evidence about the alleged assault was compelling, distressing and believable.

 

Lee asked: “Your core point … and I hope this is not a crude reduction of what you are saying, is … the irreducible core about her being a victim of a sexual assault was given with crystal-clear clarity, you would say, and must be accepted whatever other misgivings one has about her evidence?”

 

“That’s so,” Collins said.

 

Collins said Lehrmann had given a “ludicrous” reason for going back to Parliament House in the early hours of March 23, 2019, which included working on question time briefs.

 

Lehrmann told the court he had lied when he told the chief of staff to Liberal senator and then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds that he went back to the office to have a drink. Higgins and Lehrmann worked for Reynolds as advisers.

 

Lee said “this is an unusual case” where one might be in a position where “you disbelieve story A [and] you disbelieve story B”. He asked rhetorically, “What are the consequences of that?”

 

“We say this is not that case, because your honour does have direct evidence from the two protagonists about what happened in that room,” Collins said.

 

“To find that sexual intercourse without consent did not happen, your honour, would have actively to reject the evidence given by Ms Higgins. Your honour would have to find it was false or mistaken in some way.”

 

But Lee said “That’s not quite true”.

 

“You have to be positively persuaded to reach an actual sense of persuasion that it is true.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 1:49 a.m. No.20108467   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8469

>>20108466

 

2/3

 

Not there ‘to play Scrabble’

 

Collins said there was a “limited universe of things” that could plausibly have happened that night, and “they weren’t there to play Scrabble”.

 

“Even if your honour were in some doubt about the question of consent, we’d say your honour ought to feel an active persuasion … that sexual intercourse took place. Why else is Ms Higgins naked at 4.20am, passed out?”

 

Sue Chrysanthou, SC, acting for Wilkinson, offered five objective facts that supported a finding that sexual intercourse occurred, including that Higgins and Lehrmann entered Parliament House at the same time with nobody else; he left after 40 minutes in a hurry; he missed phone calls from his girlfriend and did not call back; and Higgins was found naked and passed out by a security guard at 4.30am.

 

“The question for Your Honour is, why was she naked? If they didn’t have sex, why was she naked?” she said.

 

Chrysanthou submitted that there couldn’t really be “any doubt in anyone’s mind that there was sex, and that the only issue that would trouble your honour, having regard to the unsatisfactory state of the evidence by both persons, is the consent issue”.

 

If the court found there was sexual intercourse, “it is quite disgraceful conduct [by Lehrmann] … to have denied that at the outset”, Chrysanthou said, because Higgins had been accused of “making up the whole thing”.

 

‘Wicked set of circumstances’

 

Collins submitted that if the judge “came to the view that on the balance of probabilities sexual intercourse occurred in that room in those 40 minutes but didn’t feel the degree of persuasion necessary to establish that was it as non-consensual or reckless, we would be in the situation of a most wicked set of circumstances”.

 

“Mr Lehrmann would have gone to a criminal trial on a basis which he knew to be false,” Collins said, and “that wicked scheme would have been perpetuated” in the defamation case.

 

He said that in those circumstances “the abuse of process would be so extreme” that the judge ought not award damages.

 

Sexual assault charge dropped

 

Lehrmann’s ACT Supreme Court trial for sexual assault was aborted last year due to juror misconduct. The charge against Lehrmann was later dropped altogether owing to concerns about Higgins’ mental health.

 

Logies speech

 

Lee raised concerns with Chrysanthou about the Logies acceptance speech given by Wilkinson for The Project interview eight days before Lehrmann’s criminal trial, in which she praised Higgins’ courage. Lehrmann’s lawyers have pointed to the speech as a factor in support of aggravated damages. The criminal trial was subsequently delayed for three months to avoid prejudice to the jury.

 

Wilkinson said in her evidence that she had received advice that the speech was acceptable, but Lee said it was “fantastic” that any lawyer could have thought the speech was appropriate.

 

“Your honour assumes that people watch the Logies,” Chrysanthou responded. “There’s no proof of that.”

 

Chrysanthou added that Wilkinson’s comments were “a drop in the ocean” of allegations being made about Lehrmann at the time, including Higgins’ speech to the National Press Club and supportive comments made by the then prime minister Scott Morrison on the floor of Parliament.

 

“You would think that would be more memorable than what my client said in a Logies speech,” Chrysanthou said.

 

Lee replied: “There’s some force in that.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 1:51 a.m. No.20108469   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20108467

 

3/3

 

Zero or nominal damages

 

During his closing address, Collins argued Lehrmann should receive only low or no damages even if he won his defamation case against Ten and Wilkinson.

 

Collins said the vast majority of viewers of Wilkinson’s interview with Higgins would have had “no idea” that Lehrmann was the unnamed man accused of raping Higgins in Reynolds’ office.

 

Lehrmann’s legal team argue that he was identified by the descriptions given in the interview of Higgins’ alleged assailant, but Collins argued that “overall we say the identification case is weak”.

 

While a small pool of people, including some political staffers, would have identified Lehrmann from the broadcast, Collins said the damages would be “correspondingly limited” if he won the case.

 

Collins added that the damages payout would be “completely out of proportion to the costs and energy that has gone into the running of this case”, and it might be a case where the judge ought not to award damages at all.

 

Ten’s defences

 

If the court finds Lehrmann was identified in the interview, which is a threshold issue in the case, Ten and Wilkinson are seeking to rely on defences of truth and qualified privilege.

 

Under the truth defence, Ten must prove on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann raped Higgins.

 

While this is less onerous than the criminal standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt, the so-called Briginshaw principle applies in civil cases involving serious allegations and requires courts to proceed cautiously in making grave findings.

 

Qualified privilege relates to publications of public interest and requires a media outlet to show it acted reasonably. Wilkinson’s evidence was directly relevant to that defence.

 

‘Utterly irreconcilable’ accounts

 

Collins said Lehrmann and Higgins had provided “utterly irreconcilable” evidence about the events leading up to and including March 23, 2019. Higgins had given a vivid description of sexual assault by Lehrmann and Lehrmann had told the court there was no sexual activity whatsoever.

 

Collins argued the evidence established that “Mr Lehrmann was physically attracted to Ms Higgins”, and pointed to the evidence of former Liberal staffer Nicole Hamer, who said Lehrmann told her on March 2, 2019, that he found Higgins “good-looking” and urged her to invite Higgins to drinks that night. Lehrmann told the court he did not say that, before adding, “I just don’t recall this conversation occurring.”

 

He also pointed to the evidence of an expert lip-reader, Tim Reedy – “What an impressive witness, in our respectful submission,” Collins said – who gave evidence that Lehrmann urged Higgins to skol a drink (“drink it all”) in the hours before the alleged rape and said three drinks on a table were “all hers”. Lehrmann denied saying those words.

 

Views peaked during Higgins’ evidence

 

The trial has been livestreamed on the Federal Court’s YouTube channel and attracted its highest number of views on November 30, during Higgins’ evidence (124,445 views). Higgins was called as a witness by Ten as part of its truth defence.

 

The second-highest number of views was recorded on December 14 during Wilkinson’s evidence (119,502), according to figures supplied by the Federal Court.

 

The views were lower during Lehrmann’s evidence at the start of the trial, including on November 24 (46,161).

 

It is the first time in Australian legal history that a de facto sexual assault trial – involving Ten seeking to prove on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann raped Higgins in 2019 – has been streamed live to the public.

 

The court did not sit on Wednesday but released via YouTube the recorded evidence of Brown, Reynolds’ former chief of staff, who appeared in the witness box on Monday and Tuesday. Brown’s evidence was not streamed live on those days owing to mental health considerations.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/online-views-of-lehrmann-case-peaked-during-higgins-wilkinson-evidence-20231221-p5eswl.html

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJtlQXmEK3o

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 1:57 a.m. No.20108473   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20092945

>>20103774

Bienvenue: Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz arrive in France

 

ELISE KAINE - DECEMBER 21, 2023

 

Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz have arrived in Paris to start their new life in France.

 

Dressed in matching black outfits, Ms Higgins and her fiance landed at Charles de Gaulle airport on Tuesday evening.

 

The couple are moving to the small town of Lunas which is six-hours by train from Paris.

 

On her Instagram, Ms Higgins posted a carousel of images taken in Canberra, Sydney and other iconic locations in Australia.

 

“No matter how far or how wide I roam, I still call Australia home,” the caption read.

 

Ms Higgins has reportedly bought her first home in the small village in the south of France, following her $2.4 million compensation settlement with the Commonwealth.

 

The couple said goodbye to family and friends at Brisbane International Airport on Monday night, flying to Singapore before boarding a connecting flight to France, where it is reported Ms Higgins plans to study and learn the language.

 

Ms Higgins, her parents Kelly and Matthew, and Mr Sharaz all wore white outfits at the airport – the women’s suffragette colour, which Ms Higgins wore at the Women’s March for Justice in March.

 

Their departure comes as the defamation trial, lodged by Bruce Lehrmann against Channel Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in which Ms Higgins was called as a witness, comes to an end this week.

 

Also this week, former Liberal Minister Linda Reynolds indicated she will apply for freezing orders against Ms Higgins in the wake of her relocation.

 

Senator Reynolds, who is suing both Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz for defamation, will ask the Supreme Court of Western Australia for the orders, which restrain a party to a case from selling or moving assets while a legal action is still in process.

 

Senator Reynolds has launched defamation actions against Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz over their comments about the senator in social media posts. In Ms Higgins’ allegedly defamatory Instagram story, she criticised her former boss for continuing “to harass me through the media and in the parliament”.

 

West Australian Supreme Court judge Marcus Solomon has previously urged the parties to do their best to settle the matter, warning of the immense financial and human cost of a protracted trial.

 

On Tuesday, lawyers for Senator Reynolds wrote to Ms Higgins’ lawyer Leon Zwier, referring to media reports she and Mr Sharaz had left the country. “If such reports are true, we consider that an application for freezing orders is appropriate. Please advise as a matter of urgency your client’s intentions in respect of her travel to France and your availability to confer in respect of our client’s proposed application.”

 

The deed of settlement ­between Ms Higgins and the ­commonwealth was released last week in the defamation trial brought by Bruce Lehrmann against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson over Ms Higgins’ ­allegation on The Project that she was raped by him in Parliament House in 2019, after her lawyers successfully asked that personal medical information be excluded.

 

The one-day mediation took place 10 days after ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane ­Drumgold announced he would not be proceeding with a retrial of rape charges due to Ms Higgins’ mental health.

 

The deed shows that the total amount paid to Ms Higgins was $2.445m – $1.48m for loss of earning capacity for 40 years; $400,000 for hurt, distress and humiliation; $220,000 for medical expenses; $100,000 for “past and future domestic assistance”; and $245,000 for legal costs.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/brittany-higgins-and-david-sharaz-arrive-in-france/news-story/a4a6cd0bb336b0f5f05c68da34668749

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 2:19 a.m. No.20108499   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8500 >>3773

>>20098526

>>20103721

Media union criticises ABC’s decision to sack radio host Antoniette Lattouf

 

SOPHIE ELSWORTH - DECEMBER 21, 2023

 

1/2

 

The media union has labelled ABC radio host Antoinette Lattouf’s sacking over her social media use as “disturbing” and claimed staff from “diverse backgrounds” are “disproportionately” attacked from the public.

 

The fallout at the national broadcaster continues after management axed Lattouf just hours after she finishing hosting the ABC Sydney mornings program on Wednesday morning and sources have told The Australian there was serious concerns not only over her social media use – which includes many anti-Israel posts which are against the ABC’s impartiality guidelines – but also her commentary on her radio program relating to the Israel-Hamas war.

 

On Thursday the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s acting chief executive Adam Portelli said in a statement the “ABC should back its employees when they are under attack”.

 

“Australians expect and deserve an ABC that is home to a range of ideas and opinions reflective of the diversity of Australian society,” he said.

 

“The ABC should be backing its own employees when they come under attack.

 

“It is also disturbing if – as has been reported today – the ABC chairperson or other board members are dictating staffing decisions in breach of editorial independence.”

 

In the statement it said Lattouf had been sacked after she shared a social media post from a “reputable human rights organisation”.

 

The post she shared was by Human Rights Watch which said, “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza.”

 

Lattouf added on the post, “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war”.

 

Lattouf, a Lebanese-Australian woman, has also repeatedly rejected the legitimacy of the “gas the Jews” footage from Sydney’s Opera house and attacked Israel numerous times including accusing Israeli forces of committing rape.

 

Lattouf posted on social media that she was considering her legal options following her sacking.

 

ABC chair Ita Buttrose is “furious” over the situation involving Lattouf and concerns have been raised internally as to how she was appointed to the role to fill-in for Sarah Macdonald in the first place.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 2:20 a.m. No.20108500   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20108499

 

2/2

 

Sources have told The Australian that there was not only concern about Lattouf’s conduct on social media but also some commentary on her mornings program on Monday where she discussed with a university expert on second-hand trauma and she read out a comment from a listener, Dianne who said: “Perfectly timed topic … it was the images just now on the news of Palestinian people running out of food and water in Gaza that sent me over the top. I don’t think the images should stop.”

 

Lattouf then asked the expert, “you might have a bit of a different view as to whether those images should stop?”

 

During the same program she also discussed an advertising campaign “which looks a bit like a war zone, complete with a corpse wrapped in a white cloth reminiscent of a Muslim burial cloth in which many of us have seen thousands of because of the mounting death toll in Gaza and it has a lot of people really upset.”

 

Clothing brand Zara removed the controversial advertising campaign after pro-Palestinians activists urged people to boycott the retailer.

 

The ABC’s house committee said colleagues from diverse backgrounds were often the subject of unfair attacks and “often feel unsupported from ABC management and the board”.

 

“To our culturally and linguistically diverse colleagues: you are not alone, we have your back,” the MEAA said.

 

Lattouf is among hundreds of journalists who signed a controversial open letter calling for all newsrooms to treat unverified information from the democratically elected government of Israel and terror group Hamas with the same “professional scepticism”.

 

Lattouf was contacted for comment but did not respond.

 

The ABC also has refused to comment after its news division deleted a controversial TikTok video by a Palestinian journalist that presented a one-sided report about boycotting businesses linked to Israel.

 

The one-minute now-deleted ABC News Australia TikTok video which was published this week and discussed the controversial Palestinian BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) scheme and told viewers “organisers say changing sentiment among customers is powerful”.

 

The Anti-Defamation Commission’s chair Dr Dvir Abramovich said the TikTok video is “beyond belief and is a kick in the stomach of every Australian Jew”.

 

“The evil BDS bandwagon is reminiscent of 1933 Nazi Germany when Hitler’s regime initiated a “Don’t buy from Jews” day, and to have our public broadcaster run a story that champions a malevolent cause that advocates for the destruction of Israel dishonours and taints the ABC,” he said.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/media-union-criticises-abcs-decision-to-sack-radio-host-antoniette-lattouf/news-story/c002e0f9dd67e677d70a208e91ff558a

 

https://twitter.com/antoinette_news/status/1737423359435301244

 

https://twitter.com/AustralianJA/status/1737420078877147139

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 2:25 a.m. No.20108504   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3743

>>20072071 (pb)

>>20072085 (pb)

>>20098526

Boxing Day Test: Usman Khawaja’s black armband protest not approved, faces ICC reprimand

 

DANIEL CHERNY - DECEMBER 21, 2023

 

Usman Khawaja did not have ICC approval to wear a black armband during the first Test to mark the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, leaving him open to sanctions from the governing body.

 

Having been told he would not be allowed to wear pro-Palestinian slogans on his shoes during the match as he had hoped to do, Khawaja instead chose to don a black armband throughout the game.

 

Black armbands are worn routinely by players to mark personal or cricketing bereavements, however in order to do so they must have approval from both their home board and the ICC’s cricket operations department.

 

There are prohibitions on wearing an item that has a “political, religious or racial cause.”

 

After repeated inquiries over the space of a week, the ICC confirmed to this masthead on Wednesday night that Khawaja had not been given approval to wear the armband during the Test between Australia and Pakistan in Perth.

 

The ICC would not comment on whether the opener would be penalised for wearing the armband without a green light, although the starting point for any sanctions would be a reprimand, meaning Khawaja is not in any serious doubt of missing the Boxing Day Test.

 

Khawaja, Australia’s first Muslim Test cricketer, had hoped to wear shoes with the messages “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal” written in the Palestinian colours of black, green and red.

 

He has stressed that his views are purely humanitarian and non-political.

 

While blocked by the governing body, he has indicated he will push to do so in future matches, having worn the shoes in the nets in the lead-up to the Test at Perth Stadium.

 

The ICC’s clothing and equipment regulations state that: “In determining whether a message is for a ‘political, religious or racial cause’, the starting point is that the ICC and its members acknowledge and agree that cricket should be used as a tool to bring people and communities around the world together and not as a platform to draw attention to potentially divisive political issues, rhetoric or agendas.

 

“Each case must be considered on its own facts and the ICC will take into account all relevant circumstances, including (as it sees fit): (a) the views of any other relevant team or individual; (b) the likely sentiment and response in the media to the message in all relevant countries; (c) whether the message is a ‘one-off’ or whether it is to be displayed for a longer period; (d) the purpose and impact of conveying the message,” the regulations continue.

 

“By way of example only, and without limitation, where the purpose of a message appears to be commemorative in nature (e.g. the use of a black armband or a poppy) or to serve a charitable purpose (e.g. to generate funds or awareness for a non-political charitable cause), it is more likely to be permitted; where a message appears to indicate support for a particular government, political party or individual, it is more likely to be prohibited. Where a request for approval is submitted to the ICC, the ICC shall be entitled to request such further information as it considers necessary before making its decision and to impose such conditions as it sees fit in providing its approval (as applicable).”

 

Cricket Australia has largely deferred to the ICC regulations, reiterating that while it supports the rights of players to express themselves it expects players to follow ICC rules.

 

Khawaja is due to arrive in Melbourne later in the week ahead of the second Test, which begins on Tuesday.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/cricket/boxing-day-test-usman-khawajas-black-armband-protest-not-approved-faces-icc-reprimand/news-story/56560db98dd2c11c6bdca684bb60f2a7

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 2:43 a.m. No.20108528   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Anglican Church finds former governor-general Peter Hollingworth failed children over reporting obligations

 

JOHN FERGUSON - DECEMBER 21, 2023

 

The Anglican Church has found against former governor-general Peter Hollingworth over two allegations of significant neglect of a child regarding his handling of a sex abuse scandal.

 

An internal Anglican investigation into seven allegations has found against Dr Hollingworth twice on the grounds of an alleged failure to take action to protect children.

 

Sources familiar with the probe said Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People had been alerted to the internal findings and the matter would be referred to authorities to determine what action was to be taken. The findings related to “significant neglect” of a child, sources said.

 

Under the investigation protocols, the inquiry was conducted by the church but overseen by the CCYP.

 

Friends of Dr Hollingworth, 88, said the former archbishop had no intention of working with children and had not done so for a significant amount of time.

 

The church said: “Archbishop Philip Freier, who leads the ­diocese, takes his responsibility as the head of entity with mandatory reporting obligations under the Act, very seriously.

 

“The diocese ensures that any information about harm to a child that falls under the mandatory reporting regime is reported to the CCYP.”

 

The investigation findings come after Dr Hollingworth this year was found to have mishandled abuse complaints against two clergy members, John Elliot and Donald Shearman, both of whom he allowed to remain in the church while he was archbishop of Brisbane in the 1980s

 

That board inquiry also found he had made unsatisfactory ­comments about abuse survivor Beth Heinrich ­in a 2002 episode of ­ ABC TV’s Australian Story.

 

A CCYP spokesman said the organisation was unable to ­comment on individual cases under the state’s reportable ­conduct scheme or child safety standards.

 

“Under the reportable conduct scheme, investigations are carried out by organisations under the commission’s oversight, with findings required to be reported to us,’’ he said.

 

“The commission then refers any substantiated findings to Working with Children Check Victoria, which can then review whether a person is suitable to maintain their Working with Children Check.

 

“The commission may also make recommendations to an organisation about improving their reporting and investigation of allegations. The findings of investigations cannot be publicly released.

 

“In addition, the commission may undertake action, including investigations, to ensure organisations are meeting their obligations under Victoria’s Child Safe Standards to adequately respond to child safety complaints.’’

 

Chris Goddard a global expert on child abuse, said the latest development reconfirmed his view that Dr Hollingworth’s governor-general’s pension should be cut and the cash given to abuse victims. “This is just another opportunity to review his extravagant pension,’’ Professor Goddard said.

 

Details of the two substantiated allegations – as determined by the church – have not been made public.

 

However, Dr Hollingworth has been widely condemned for his failure to deal with the child sex abuse scandal in Brisbane and his handling of offenders.

 

This includes keeping known offenders in the ministry, even in the face of strong evidence against them.

 

The constant publicity about his time as archbishop and governor-general have taken a toll on Dr Hollingworth, who was once the nation’s main advocate for social justice.

 

A separate, church-initiated inquiry into Dr Hollingworth ­earlier this year found him guilty of seven counts of misconduct.

 

But at the time the board did not defrock him or strip him of the right to officiate; the committee had sought for him to lose the right to officiate, and says it submitted that it was open for the board to recommend his removal from holy orders.

 

But on May 12, Dr Hollingworth announced his intention to return his permission to officiate and this was accepted by the church on May 19.

 

On May 23, at the request of the committee, Dr Hollingworth gave an undertaking he would not apply in the future for a permission to officiate anywhere in Australia.

 

Comment was sought from Dr Hollingworth and the church.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/church-finds-former-governorgeneral-peter-hollingworth-failed-children-over-reporting-obligations/news-story/0ba4602aaf65dc01970dce41928bf3eb

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 2:59 a.m. No.20108544   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8558

>>20103801

Jeffrey Epstein Victim Taunts His Associates Ahead of Document Dump

 

Virginia Giuffre mused about who would be on the “naughty list” when the names are published next year.

 

Tom Sykes - Dec. 20, 2023

 

Virginia Giuffre, the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking victim who accused Prince Andrew of rape and received a reputed $14 million from him to settle, celebrated online Wednesday after it was revealed that more than 170 individuals linked to Epstein are due to be publicly named early next year.

 

In a post on X, Giuffre appeared to taunt those associates of Epstein whose identities have long been hidden in the sealed documents, writing: “There’s going to be a lot of nervous ppl over Christmas and New Years… who’s on the naughty list?”

 

Giuffre also thanked the judge responsible for the ruling ordering the unsealing of the documents, Judge Loretta Preska, praising her commitment to truth and justice.

 

The documents, which relate to a libel trial brought by Giuffre against the disgraced and jailed former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, are scheduled for release beginning Jan. 1, after the Miami Herald sued the court to get them released.

 

Andrew, who settled with Giuffre out of court in 2022, is likely to face renewed scrutiny if named in the documents. The judge has indicated that the 177 individuals encompass Epstein’s friends, recruiters, and victims. The documents are set to be fully unsealed unless an appeal is made.

 

There has also been speculation there may be documents pertaining to French modeling boss Jean-Luc Brunel, an Epstein associate who faced multiple sex charges before his 2022 suicide in a Paris prison.

 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-victim-virginia-giuffre-taunts-his-associates-ahead-of-document-dump

 

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1737337186012541013

 

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1737329578534998215

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 3:09 a.m. No.20108558   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20103801

>>20108544

Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre taunts 170 people to be exposed on his ‘naughty list’

 

Katherine Donlevy - Dec. 20, 2023

 

An alleged victim of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein celebrated Wednesday after it was revealed that more than 170 people with ties to the accused sex trafficker will soon be exposed — calling the reveal an early Christmas gift.

 

Virginia Giuffre — who settled a $12 million lawsuit over allegations Epstein sex-trafficked her to Prince Andrew — appeared to taunt the dozens of associates and ex-employees whose names will be dredged up in a trove of court documents to be unsealed in the coming weeks.

 

“There’s going to be a lot of nervous ppl over Christmas and New Years, 170 to be exact, who’s on the naughty list?” Giuffre wrote on X.

 

“Merry early Christmas,” Giuffre, 40, said in another tweet.

 

Manhattan federal Judge Loretta Preska on Monday ordered the release of the long-sealed documents in a since-settled defamation lawsuit that Giuffre brought against the convicted pedophile’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, back in 2015.

 

Under the ruling, dozens of individuals — who have previously been referred to as “Jane Does” or “John Does” in various court filings linked to the suit — will likely be identified publicly when the materials tied to them are “unsealed in full.”

 

Although she gave the yet-to-be-named individuals two weeks to appeal the decision, Preska pointed out that most of the names were already public in the form of media interviews and as a result of Maxwell’s trial.

 

Former President Bill Clinton and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates are just some of the prominent figures anticipated to be featured in the report — after both were photographed with alleged Epstein victims.

 

Some portions will remain confidential, however, including people who were children when they were sexually abused by Epstein.

 

Giuffre — once described as the late financier’s “sex slave” — repeatedly thanked Preska for her ruling, calling her a “truth seeker & justice maker.”

 

The sexual abuse advocate reached a $12 million settlement with Prince Andrew in 2022 over allegations he had sex with her three times when she was a teen through Epstein’s wide-reaching trafficking web.

 

The Duke of York — who was stripped of his military and royal titles — is likely to face renewed scrutiny if named in the mountain of documents despite his longtime proclamations of innocence in the debauched trade.

 

“It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years. Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others,” an unsigned letter from Prince Andrew said at the time of the settlement.

 

Epstein took his own life in August 2019 in a federal lockup in Manhattan as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

 

He was accused of luring numerous underage girls to his homes under the guise of giving him massages and then sexually abusing them.

 

Maxwell, 61, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted in December 2021 of helping Epstein recruit and sexually abuse underage girls.

 

https://nypost.com/2023/12/20/news/jeffrey-epstein-victim-virginia-giuffre-taunts-those-to-be-named-in-unsealed-docs/

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 21, 2023, 3:20 a.m. No.20108573   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Donald Trump’s return could hurt Australia, warn business leaders

 

Australian business leaders have sounded the alarm about Donald Trump’s economic plan if he returns to the White House.

 

Tom Minear - December 21, 2023

 

Exclusive: Australian business leaders have sounded the alarm about Donald Trump’s potential return to power next year, warning his trade plan would smash the economy and betray our alliance.

 

The former president – who is leading Joe Biden in the polls and could be confirmed as the Republican candidate within weeks – is promising to hit all imports to the US with a universal 10 per cent tariff.

 

The radical policy would breach Australia’s free trade agreement with the US and harm domestic businesses that exported $30bn in goods and services to our closest ally last year.

 

Australian Industry Group boss Innes Willox said such a “reckless and indiscriminate act” would be “potentially calamitous for both the international and the American economies”.

 

“Security allies like Australia, who have a free-trade agreement with the US, would feel especially deeply betrayed if they were caught up in such a short-term, self-centred act of economic harm,” he said.

 

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black said the tariff plan “would be bad for business and bad for all Australians”.

 

And Export Council of Australia chair Dianne Tipping said the Australian government needed to be lobbying Mr Trump and his team now to ensure an exemption for Australian businesses, including the meat and technology industries that would be most affected.

 

With less than a year until the presidential election, Mr Trump has established a clear advantage over Mr Biden in recent polls, with the Wall Street Journal’s latest survey giving him a lead of 47 per cent to 43 per cent in the hypothetical 2020 election rematch.

 

And while the former president is embroiled in four state and federal criminal cases that could put him in jail, he has also been rolling out a policy agenda that is even more extreme than his first four years in the White House.

 

Australia managed to secure a rare exemption from Mr Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs during his presidency. But he is now promising to go further with “a system of universal baseline tariffs” and has said: “I do like the 10 per cent for everybody.”

 

Mr Willox said American tariffs in 1930 “undoubtedly prolonged the Great Depression”, and that “to repeat this folly would only serve to slow the global economic recovery”.

 

Ms Tipping agreed, saying it would “undermine all the work that’s been done for 30 years on trade” and would “contravene our free trade agreement”.

 

“It would be a really backward step for global trade,” she said.

 

Mr Black added: “One in four Australian jobs depend on trade and having open and transparent markets, including to the United States, is vital to the Australian economy and our economic success as a country.”

 

While in office, Mr Trump also pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Mr Biden has not moved to rejoin the sweeping trade deal, and the trade pillar of his alternative Indo-Pacific Economic Framework has been hampered by the domestic political backlash.

 

Australian officials have cautiously criticised America’s trade policies, although Kevin Rudd went further prior to starting as Australia’s US ambassador, saying that the US was “happy to throw some of its allies under a bus” with its protectionist approach.

 

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/companies/donald-trumps-return-could-hurt-australia-warn-business-leaders/news-story/a9d2e532800bd208efc7efa8e32ef00e

 

>These people are stupid.

>Enjoy the show!

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 5:34 a.m. No.20114415   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4421

>>20092945

‘Lies, damned lies and CCTV’: Lehrmann’s barrister delivers blistering closing address

 

Michaela Whitbourn - December 22, 2023

 

1/3

 

The barrister acting for former federal Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann says his client’s high-stakes defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson is about “lies, damned lies and CCTV”, and the ripple effect of the interview at the centre of the case was profound.

 

Delivering his closing address to the Federal Court in Sydney on Friday, Lehrmann’s barrister, Steven Whybrow, SC, said a “virus of madness” spread after Ten aired the interview in February 2021 with his client’s former colleague, Brittany Higgins. That virus “seems to have infected the media and the political class”, he said, and led to the rights of his client ceasing to exist.

 

The interview dropped “like a large stone in a pond”, Whybrow added, with ripples spreading across its surface.

 

‘Revision of history’

 

But Wilkinson’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, retorted that it was a “revision of history” to lay at the feet of the high-profile journalist and her employer “all of the woes” of Lehrmann, when News Corp had published an interview with Higgins earlier that day.

 

After a month-long defamation trial, the court heard closing submissions on Friday from Lehrmann’s legal team and a reply from the media parties. Justice Michael Lee will deliver his decision at a later date.

 

Judge reserves decision

 

Lee formally reserved his decision on Friday afternoon, prompting Chrysanthou to quip, in a reference to his willingness to sit extended hours: “Really? Your honour’s still got many hours left of light.”

 

During his closing address, Whybrow re-cast a phrase often attributed to Mark Twain and said the defamation case was about “lies, damned lies, and CCTV”. It involved an examination of lies, he said, namely “who’s telling them and how serious” they were, and CCTV footage of Lehrmann and Higgins at a Canberra bar on March 22, 2019, in the hours before Higgins alleges Lehrmann raped her in Parliament House.

 

He said CCTV footage could show “anything you want it to, depending on how you present it”, and accused Ten of deploying a “very selective section” of it during the trial.

 

Asked by Lee about a section of the CCTV footage in which Lehrmann moves three drinks in front of Higgins, Whybrow said it was a “friendly” exchange “rather than some evil against-her-will plying” of her with alcohol.

 

Ten, who called an expert lip-reader to give evidence in the case, put to Lehrmann that the words he said at this point were “all hers, all hers”. Lehrmann denied uttering those words.

 

Paraphrasing Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Whybrow said his client had been subjected to a form of “sentence first, trial later”.

 

Trip to Parliament House

 

The barristers for Ten and Wilkinson suggested during closing addresses on Thursday that Lee had sufficient evidence to find, at a minimum, that Higgins and Lehrmann had sex in Parliament House in the early hours of Saturday, March 23, 2019.

 

They argued that in those circumstances Lehrmann should not receive damages because he had persisted in a lie that no sexual activity occurred at all. Higgins has told the court that she woke up while Lehrmann was raping her.

 

Whybrow said on Friday that neither of the chief protagonists in the case had said in their evidence that they went back to Parliament House for any kind of “amorous activity”. He said that even if they went back to the office with that intention it didn’t mean that it happened.

 

He said his submissions examining the evidence “will hopefully cause your honour to be able to confidently exclude that Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins, and that Mr Lehrmann had sex at all with Ms Higgins”.

 

He conceded Ten’s barrister, Dr Matt Collins, KC, had “tied [Lehrmann] … in knots” and “undid him” when he cross-examined him about whether he bought Higgins drinks at Canberra’s The Dock hotel in the hours before the alleged rape, but said this did not translate to his client being a “compulsive liar”.

 

Whybrow alleged Higgins was not an accurate or reliable historian and had “invented allegations”, while Ten alleged on Thursday that Lehrmann had been “revealed to be a fundamentally dishonest man”. Chrysanthou said on Friday that Higgins had continued to see a rape counsellor “on and off” for two years, which was inconsistent with her fabricating the allegation.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 5:36 a.m. No.20114421   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4425

>>20114415

 

2/3

 

Higgins’ state of undress

 

Asked by Lee what he was to make of the fact that Higgins was found naked in the office hours after Lehrmann had left, Whybrow said it was a “complex matter” for the judge, and his client’s evidence was that he didn’t know about that and had not checked on her before he left the office.

 

It was potentially consistent with a range of scenarios, Whybrow said, including some form of intimacy or the expectation of it, or of Higgins feeling sick and removing her dress. He noted that Higgins had subsequently washed her dress, which would have removed what he described as a “lack” of evidence.

 

He submitted it was incomprehensible that Higgins would wear the dress she wore on the night she alleges she was raped by Lehrmann to a work dinner on May 16, 2019, six weeks after the alleged sexual assault, if that assault had happened. Higgins gave evidence that it was an attempt to “reclaim” the dress, and she never wore it again.

 

‘Up to no good’

 

In a question the judge described as deliberately provocative, Lee noted Lehrmann’s girlfriend had called him in the early hours of March 23, and asked: “Unless he was up to no good, why didn’t he ring his girlfriend?”

 

Whybrow replied that Lehrmann’s evidence was that he had not seen the calls until later, and it was not necessarily the case that one would call back at 2.30am.

 

‘Phoning a friend’ email

 

During his closing address, Whybrow pointed to an email Higgins sent Lehrmann on March 26, three days after the alleged assault, in which she asked for help with a work task and said she was “phoning a friend”.

 

Lee suggested it might be “a tad simplistic” to suggest the email was inconsistent with an assault having taken place. He said examples were “legion” of young women in professional roles dealing with more senior men and needing to “navigate a very tricky path sometimes” to maintain a working relationship when they had been harassed or worse.

 

Whybrow agreed with those general observations, but said the email had to be seen “in a context”.

 

Sexual assault charge dropped

 

Lehrmann’s ACT Supreme Court trial for sexual assault was aborted last year due to juror misconduct. The charge against Lehrmann was later dropped altogether owing to concerns about Higgins’ mental health.

 

The lawsuit

 

Lehrmann is suing Ten and Wilkinson over an interview with Higgins, broadcast on The Project on February 15, 2021, that he alleges defames him by suggesting he is guilty of raping Higgins in then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds’ office on March 23, 2019, when they were both working as staffers to the Liberal senator.

 

Lehrmann not named

 

Lehrmann was not named in Ten’s interview. A preliminary issue in the case is whether he was identified because of the details provided in the broadcast.

 

If the court finds Lehrmann was identified in the interview, Ten and Wilkinson are seeking to rely on defences of truth and qualified privilege.

 

The truth defence

 

Under the truth defence, Ten must prove on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann raped Higgins.

 

While this is less onerous than the criminal standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt, the so-called Briginshaw principle applies in civil cases involving serious allegations and requires courts to proceed cautiously in making grave findings.

 

Qualified privilege

 

Qualified privilege relates to publications of public interest and requires a media outlet to show it acted reasonably. Wilkinson’s evidence was directly relevant to that defence.

 

Matthew Richardson, SC, acting for Lehrmann, said Lee could not be satisfied the media outlet acted reasonably, including in relation to the amount of time it gave to Lehrmann and political figures to respond to Higgins’ allegations, and to put any responses to her before the program aired.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 5:38 a.m. No.20114425   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20114421

 

3/3

 

Ex-chief of staff’s call to ASIO

 

Documents released by the Federal Court on Thursday reveal that Fiona Brown, the former chief of staff to Reynolds, told the court she contacted the ASIO director-general about Lehrmann after he accessed the parliamentary office after hours.

 

In an affidavit filed in Lehrmann’s defamation case, Brown, who was chief of staff to Reynolds in 2019, said she understood Lehrmann was “keen for a promotion or allocation of ongoing tasks which involved ASIO and security matters”.

 

But Brown said that ASIO matters were “not relevant to the Defence Industry portfolio”.

 

She said that when Lehrmann “learnt that the job offer in the Defence Industry Minister’s office was going to be straight Parliamentary and Budget with some policy, he indicated he was not interested in staying on and said he wanted to pursue opportunities in ASIO”.

 

“At some point, Mr Lehrmann told me he’d had a job interview, or was pursuing work, with ASIO,” Brown said.

 

The court has heard Lehrmann had decided to leave Reynolds’ staff for a new job when he was instructed on March 26, 2019, to pack up his things after accessing the Parliament House office after hours. His role was formally terminated on April 5 over the security breach.

 

The court has heard Brown was advised by the Department of Finance on March 26 that Lehrmann and Higgins had entered the office in the early hours of March 23, and Higgins had been found later by a security guard naked and passed out.

 

Brown said Lehrmann told her she came back to the office to drink whisky.

 

“I asked ‘What else did you do whilst in the office?’ He said ‘I don’t wish to get into that’,” Brown said in her affidavit.

 

She said that she contacted the ASIO director-general on about March 27 and “informed him that the Minister had asked me to contact him about Bruce Lehrmann as it was our understanding that Mr Lehrmann was in the process of getting a job with ASIO”.

 

“Mr [Duncan] Lewis [the then ASIO director-general] told me he did not recall Mr Lehrmann and asked me to spell his name. He advised that he was not aware of him being in the process of getting a job with ASIO.

 

“I told him that the Minister asked that he consider revocation of his security clearance should Mr Lehrmann ever be looking for a job with ASIO. I subsequently informed the Minister of my conversation with the director-general.” Brown said she told Lewis about the unauthorised after-hours office access and an earlier incident in March in which Lehrmann had left a top secret document on his desk.

 

She said in her affidavit that after the first incident she was “starting to form the opinion that Mr Lehrmann was too immature to hold such highly classified material”.

 

Lee asked Whybrow on Friday what he was to make of “silly lies” it appeared Lehrmann told, including about ASIO, and whether it might indicate he was “indifferent to the truth or falsity” of what he said. Whybrow replied that the same might be said of Higgins.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/reynolds-chief-of-staff-contacted-asio-director-general-about-lehrmann-court-told-20231222-p5et80.html

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 6:06 a.m. No.20114518   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4524

>>20098526

ASIO director to Labor MP: Pro-Palestine rallies are a ‘pressure release’ on domestic terrorism

 

ALEXI DEMETRIADI - DECEMBER 22, 2023

 

1/2

 

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess advised Labor MP Michelle Ananda-Rajah that Australia’s pro-Palestine rallies served as an important “pressure release” given a “real risk of a terror ­attack”, a letter from the backbencher to a local voter has revealed.

 

Mr Burgess’s apparent comments and briefing was relayed by the Higgins MP to a Jewish resident who had become concerned about the location of Melbourne’s weekly pro-Palestine rally.

 

“On the matter of protests, the DG of ASIO, Mike Burgess, ­advised me that these (pro-Palestine rallies) serve as a pressure release, which is valuable given the real risk of a domestic terror attack,” the MP wrote to the voter. “I can live with a protest (provided it is respectful) but not with terrorism.”

 

A pro-Palestine rally has been held every Sunday outside the State Library Victoria, which is hosting Hebrew scripture exhibition Luminous. The voter wanted to talk to Ms Ananda-Rajah about the location, given herself and fellow members of the Jewish community were concerned about wearing identifiable clothing en route to the exhibition.

 

An ASIO spokeswoman ­declined to comment on Mr Burgess’s advice given the “sensitive” and confidential nature of all briefings given by the director-general.

 

“At the commonwealth, state and territory level, ASIO provides briefings on a range of intelligence matters to political leaders, ministers, senior staffers, parliamentary officials, security officers and other relevant parties,” the spokeswoman said. “The details of those discussions are sensitive, and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

 

Dr Ananda-Rajah didn’t comment specifically on Mr Burgess’s advice, or why she had disclosed “sensitive” ASIO intelligence to a voter. She did tell The Weekend Australian, however, that social cohesion was “our most valuable national asset”.

 

“Our government is working with our intelligence agencies to ensure that violence overseas does not precipitate violence in Australia,” she said, referring further questions to the Home ­Affairs Department.

 

It is understood that Dr ­Ananda-Rajah has been a “staunch friend” of the Jewish community, recently returning from a “solidarity mission” to ­Israel. In her email to the Jewish voter, she also condemned Hamas and said that Israel unilaterally laying down its arms would “underwrite its destruction”.

 

Organisers at the Palestine Action Group, who leads Sydney rallies, were contacted for reaction to the “pressure release” comments, as was Melbourne’s Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network. Free Palestine Melbourne, which organises that city’s rallies, was contacted.

 

The news that Australia’s ­security organisations view the pro-Palestine rallies as a necessary “pressure release” was met with condemnation and questions about the likelihood of a ­terror attack. Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings – speaking broadly on the whole-government approach to the pro-Palestine rallies and domestic radicalism – questioned whether the authorities’ “light-handed” approach had worked.

 

“For more than a decade the dominant thinking on how to deal with radicalism in Australia has been light-handed,” he said, arguing it was time authorities stopped “walking on eggshells”.

 

“Our major cities now have these ugly rallies, of which, at the fringes, there is clearly extremist ideology,” he said. “We haven’t done so well out of that. We have firebrand preachers and more visible signs of aggression taking place at these rallies.”

 

Mr Jennings said it was “time we asked the question” whether authorities should be tougher on dealing with radicalism.

 

“MPs and police seem to be ­almost fearful of them (the ­rallies),” he said.

 

“Creating a community (at the rallies) where you can get together and embolden each other’s radicalism is not a good thing either.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 6:07 a.m. No.20114524   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20114518

 

2/2

 

NSW upper house deputy president Rod Roberts – a 20-year police officer before becoming a MP – asked what security agencies were doing.

 

“If there is a threat, and they’re aware of it, what are they doing about it,” he asked. “If they have intelligence of a credible and heightened risk of domestic terrorism, they should bring that ­information forward.”

 

The voter – speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of harassment – said Dr Ananda-Rajah’s comments showed it was the Jewish community that would have to “shoulder the burden” and accept “feeling less safe”.

 

“Jews shouldn’t have to ask themselves ‘is it safe to wear a ­kippah or a Magen David pendant as I walk through this rally,” she said. “We shouldn’t have to navigate around the city because certain places are hostile to Jews … nor expected to cloister ourselves.”

 

The Jewish constituent said she “respected the right to protest”, but asked why the rally had to be outside the library, “directly next to a Hebrew exhibition Jews want to go to”.

 

“It tells us we don’t belong in the public sphere,” she said. “It’s … insulting to the people at the rally, that they ­require a ‘pressure ­release’. How little do they think of us all?”

 

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim said viewing rallies as a “pressure release” was a “misguided approach”.

 

“Although peaceful protests are a cherished right, a boundary is crossed when demonstrations become regular occasions for hate speech and incitement against any section of the community to try to intimidate it into silence or force it to change its behaviour,” he said.

 

“It’s intolerable that members of the Jewish community cannot visit their places of worship in peace or enjoy life in the wider community without being confronted by expressions of hatred.

 

“Tolerance for such behaviour … in the hope that it will serve as a pressure release against terrorism would be an astonishingly misguided approach.

 

“It would give licence to the development of social divisions, which ultimately limit everybody’s rights and freedoms. This is completely alien to our way of life, and would negate any supposed safety valve effect.”

 

Mr Burgess has commented on the rallies and domestic tensions since the outbreak of the war. “ASIO is not interested in those who are engaged in lawful protest, but rather the small subset of protesters who may wish to escalate protest to violence,” he said at October’s budget estimates, adding that Australia’s terrorism threat level remained at “possible”.

 

“ASIO has previously seen ­direct connections between inflamed language and inflamed community tensions … (we) will continue to monitor emerging trends, drivers and shifts in the threat environment.”

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/asio-director-to-labor-mp-propalestine-rallies-are-a-pressure-release-on-domestic-terrorism/news-story/eb6af0ded9589ae837b4f906abf64ca5

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 6:13 a.m. No.20114546   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2014 >>2018

>>19897955 (pb)

Security agencies mobilise to stem attack on operator of 10 hospitals and 26 aged-care facilities

 

SARAH ISON, JOSEPH LAM and DAVID MURRAY - DECEMBER 22, 2023

 

Cyber criminals have hacked into one of Australia’s biggest health networks, stealing data in an attack that has set off alarm bells across the nation.

 

The federal government’s cyber security defence capabilities have joined forces to contain and investigate the extent of the breach at St Vincent’s, operator of 10 hospitals and 26 aged-care facilities in NSW, Queensland and Victoria.

 

It’s the latest in a series of major cyber attacks over the past 18 months that have led to tens of millions of people having their records stolen or data compromised from organisations including Medibank, Optus and Latitude Financial.

 

St Vincent’s confirmed on Friday it was the target of a cyber security breach which it had first detected and begun responding to on Tuesday.

 

Initial investigations led to the health network on Thursday discovering data had been removed from its systems.

 

“St Vincent’s is working to determine what data has been removed,” a spokesman for the organisation, which employs 30,000 people across the country, said on Friday.

 

Two sources close to the investigation said there had been no communication from the criminals as of Friday afternoon.

 

The healthcare sector globally has been the target of malware attacks that lock down an organisation’s data until a ransom is paid, severely impacting services and posing a direct threat to patient safety.

 

St Vincent’s has instead been the victim of theft, leaving services functioning normally.

 

“It’s a really small amount of information at the moment. There’s been no ransomware deployed in the system,” one source said.

 

However investigators were still seeking to confirm if more data was stolen, how long the cyber criminals were in the system and what else they did while they had access, along with trying to determine who was behind the attack.

 

Shortly after the St Vincent’s statement, Acting National Cyber Security Co-ordinator Hamish Hansford confirmed he was working with the health network, alongside the National Office of Cyber Security and the Australian Signals Directorate to contain the breach and investigate possible damage.

 

“My team is working with Services Australia, the Department of Health and Aged Care, and relevant state and territory agencies to ensure a co-ordinated government response to this incident and to mitigate any flow-on effects,” Mr Hansford said.

 

“We’re advised that this incident has not affected the ability of St Vincent’s to deliver their important services to patients, residents, and the broader community across their hospital, aged care, and virtual and home health networks.”

 

A hospital spokesman said an investigation was underway as was an action plan with “key activities (which) include securing and containing the incident, understanding what the cyber criminals have done, and identifying what data may have been accessed and stolen”.

 

The St Vincent’s breach arrives just one month after a cyber attack on a multinational logistics operator which controls four Australian ports responsible for 40 per cent of the nation’s exports.

 

The breach on the Australian arm of Dubai-based DP World on November 10 shut down the company’s ports in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and resulted in a backload of 30,000 containers.

 

The breach at the time sparked major concerns over the ability for imports to reach Australian shelves in time for Christmas.

 

It was later revealed the personal details of former and current staff were stolen by a hacker.

 

A St Vincent’s spokesman said the hospital network was still able to function despite early mitigation efforts to contain the breach.

 

“Our priority is the health and safety of our patients, residents, and our people, and the continuity of St Vincent’s services for the community,” he said.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/security-agencies-mobilise-to-stem-attack-on-operator-of-10-hospitals-and-26-agedcare-facilities/news-story/7270d2c75b3952a1c0a786c99c0c985a

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 6:25 a.m. No.20114582   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4606

>>20022713 (pb)

Alameddine crime family associate charged over FriendlyJordies firebombing

 

Kate McClymont - December 21, 2023

 

1/2

 

An associate of the Alameddine crime family has been charged over last year’s firebombing of the Bondi house of political commentator and YouTube satirist Jordan Shanks, known online as FriendlyJordies.

 

Tufi Junior Tauese-Auelua, 37, appeared at Waverley Court on Wednesday charged with two counts of damaging property by fire in company.

 

Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja, commander of the financial crimes squad, confirmed a person was arrested at a correctional centre at Silverwater and also said “police can confirm that the person arrested has links to an organised crime group situated in the south-west of Sydney”.

 

“This alleged attack was co-ordinated and targeted,” said Arbinja.

 

Arbinja said Shanks had been co-operative with police, and it is a “strong possibility” the alleged attack was retaliation for videos posted on the FriendlyJordies page.

 

“Without the co-operation of the victim the investigation would not have been able to progress, the victim has been very co-operative with police. It was a long and lengthy investigation which is why it has taken over 12 months to arrest our first person,” Arbinja told reporters on Thursday.

 

“During this investigation what was paramount is the victim’s safety, that was of utmost importance to us.”

 

Police believe three men also involved in the arson attack are in the community, with further arrests likely in the coming weeks.

 

Associates of the Alameddines found themselves the subject of unwelcome attention by the popular YouTuber inadvertently through former deputy premier John Barilaro’s employment post-politics.

 

Barilaro was hired as Coronation Property’s executive director, despite the job not being advertised, from February until June 2022, when he resigned to take his controversial and now-abandoned New York trade role.

 

Coronation’s former company secretary Andy Nahas had alleged links to high-profile Alameddine associates. These connections were examined at length in a 46-minute YouTube video titled “Coronation” and broadcast by Shanks in August 2022.

 

Barilaro has featured extensively in Shanks’ videos. He successfully sued Google, which owns YouTube, as well as Shanks, over two videos Shanks published in 2020 accusing the former NSW Nationals’ leader of corruption.

 

The first video was recorded inside Barilaro’s investment property in the Southern Highlands, which Shanks rented on Airbnb so he could film from there.

 

In August last year, both the Herald and Shanks revealed that Nahas had been photographed with alleged high-ranking members of the Alameddine crime family.

 

It was also revealed that Nahas had been arrested and charged in 2009 over a kidnapping. In his statement to police, the alleged victim detailed how Nahas lured him to a meeting where he was kidnapped by others, including a high-ranking bikie boss who is facing unrelated murder charges.

 

The charges against Nahas and the others accused of kidnapping were dismissed after the court was told that “despite further inquiries being made by police since the last court date, [the alleged victim] has not yet been located”. Police were ordered to pay costs over the failed prosecution.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 6:29 a.m. No.20114606   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20114582

 

2/2

 

However, it was a recent photo of Nahas with his arm around an alleged high-ranking Alameddine figure that led to questions being asked in NSW Parliament in September 2022.

 

A parliamentary committee asked Police Commissioner Karen Webb, her deputy Dave Hudson and the Crime Commission’s Peter Bodor, QC, about the photo that featured several high-ranking associates of the Alameddine crime family with Andy Nahas.

 

The photo published in the Herald and shown in parliament accompanied an August 2021 Rolling Stone article featuring rapper Ay Huncho, whose real name is Ali Younes, an associate of the Alameddines. This year Younes, 26, pleaded guilty and was fined over charges of affray, recklessly causing grievous bodily harm in company and assault with intent to participate in the activity of a criminal group.

 

Some of the other mates of the rapper in the photo also have connections with the Alameddines, including one of Australia’s most wanted fugitives, Masood Zakaria, who was recently extradited from Turkey in relation to a commercial drug supply and conspiracy to murder a member of the Hamze family, with whom the Alameddines have been waging a deadly war.

 

Parliament heard that Zakaria’s company Zak Services is a shareholder in Alpha Omega Enterprises, a labour hire firm that has worked for Coronation.

 

Other people in the photo are Stephen Bou-Abbse, who police are seeking over a non-association order with alleged crime figure Mohamad “Almo” Alameddine; Joseph Vokai, currently charged with conspiracy to commit murder and knowingly directing the criminal activities of a criminal group; and John Ray Bayssari, charged with drug supply, dealing with proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group.

 

Asked whether he was concerned about any connection between Coronation and these people, Deputy Commissioner Hudson replied: “I am concerned about any people or any organisation that that particular group is associated with.”

 

After viewing the photo in which Nahas was featured, Bodor and Hudson assured the hearing their organisations would investigate further.

 

There is no suggestion that any member of the Nahas family nor Barilaro had any knowledge of or involvement in the arson attack on Shanks’ Bondi rental property which suffered significant damage when firebombed in November 2022.

 

The YouTuber was not home at the time. There had been another attempt to firebomb the same house the previous week.

 

Tauese-Auelua did not apply for bail. The matter will return to court on January 30.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/alameddine-crime-family-associate-charged-over-friendlyjordies-firebombing-20231220-p5esue.html

 

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

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 6:39 a.m. No.20114659   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098476

Paedophile ex-teacher who dodged jail in Australia now running B&B in Aberdeen

 

Gary Bloom, who was convicted in a court on the other side of the world, avoided a jail sentence for three charges of indecent assault when he worked as a teacher

 

Sally Hind - 22 DEC 2023

 

A convicted child abuser and ex-teacher who avoided a prison sentence in Australia is now running a B&B in Aberdeen.

 

Convicted child abuser Gary Bloom, 58, sparked fury when he walked free from court in Victoria, south-east Australia, with a three-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to three charges of indecent assault.

 

The geologist, who has worked for oil companies such as Shell, was allowed by Aussie authorities to return to Aberdeen, where he was traced by the Daily Record to a bed and breakfast in the city centre.

 

His victim, who was 10 at the time of the attack, has told of his horror at watching Bloom evade justice, and said he now has “unfettered access to children in Scotland”.

 

Reacting to the sentence, 49-year-old said: “I wanted to scream out but couldn’t. I’d poured petrol on myself and basically set my life on fire all to watch him walk from court. I felt like nothing more than a file number. Is this what the community expects? Child sexual offenders spending no time in jail?”

 

Bloom was working as a teacher at Sacred Heart Primary School in Diamond Creek, Melbourne, in 1985 and also as a swimming coach when he began visiting a paddock, which was used by children, near his victim’s home. The County Court of Victoria heard Bloom wasn’t the boy’s teacher at the time but visited the area almost every second day and regularly approached children and spoke to them.

 

Prosecutor Emma Fargher said Bloom approached his victim one day in 1985 and asked him to follow him to an area on the other side of some thick trees, where he was abused. The prosecutor said: “Mr Bloom told the victim that he would find out if he told anyone and that he would get angry.”

 

In an emotional impact statement read to the court, the victim said: “I kept your secret hidden from almost everyone. I didn’t know how to reclaim my voice, so I stayed quiet. In those moments, you stole my voice, my sound, the air, my sense of self.”

 

The court heard Bloom had written a letter of apology to his victim and denied that his behaviour was predatory. But a judge rubbished his claims, saying he “ingratiated” himself with a group of young kids before engaging in “clearly unwanted sexual conduct” with the boy. The court heard Bloom had relocated to Scotland from Melbourne in the 90s.

 

Judge Robyn Harper told him: “You were not exploring your sexuality, you were sexually assaulting a child some 10 years younger than yourself in a devious and opportunistic way.”

 

The victim finally summoned the strength to report the abuse to police in 2019, by which time Bloom was living overseas. He was charged and released on bail during a trip back to Australia in December 2021. His victim spoke out in the Australian media because he wants to see law changes to stop historical child sex abuse offenders receiving wholly suspended jail sentences.

 

He also believes convicted child molesters should be prevented from leaving Australia without notifying police overseas of the risks to communities.

 

When the Record approached Bloom at his B&B, a woman said he didn’t want to speak to us. She added: “He has been advised by his lawyer to say, ‘No comment’.”

 

https://www.aberdeenlive.news/news/paedophile-ex-teacher-who-dodged-8992704

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 6:49 a.m. No.20114699   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4706

‘Moving towards violence’: Authorities alert to radicalised sovereign citizens

 

Clare Sibthorpe - December 22, 2023

 

1/2

 

The Australian Federal Police have revealed they’re targeting sovereign citizen groups who pose a risk of violence, while experts on anti-government extremists warn the threat must be balanced with the sensitive handling of mental health.

 

Sovereign citizens generally believe every human is born “free”, the government is illegitimate or corrupt, and they do not have to follow laws unless they sign a contract. There are fears some have become increasingly radicalised due to spending more time online since the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Acting Assistant Commissioner of the AFP’s Counter Terrorism and Special Investigations Command, Stephen Nutt, told the Herald the movement has recently been seen to “co-opt or overlap with patriot movements, conspiracy theories, anti-authoritarian and ethno-nationalist perspectives and the far-right”.

 

He said the pandemic led to people spending more time online and showing “increasing susceptibility to conspiracy theories due to the time of crisis and hardening of consensus ‘radical’ perspectives”.

 

Nutt said the AFP, alongside its domestic and international partners, were focused on “groups that may seek to breach legislation and move towards violence in support of any ideation”, adding the AFP’s Joint Counter Terrorism Team members were required to undergo training to understand and combat the threats of sovereign citizens.

 

The AFP’s Counter Terrorism Command and subsequent Joint Counter Terrorism teams were set up in 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and 2002 Bali Bombings.

 

Two academics echoed Nutts’ concerns, fearing a perfect storm of isolated people, heavy social media use, an aggrievement towards society and underlying mental health issues could lead to more sovereign citizens harming themselves or others.

 

But they warned heavy-handed law enforcement was often deployed when it was too late – and there should be a stronger focus on preventing the radicalisation of people with mental health issues.

 

While sovereign citizens are far from new, Law Professor Harry Hobbs from the University of Technology Sydney said the pandemic accelerated their influence as they learnt how to integrate their anti-government ideologies into the topic of the day.

 

“Lately, they’ve shifted their focus away from anti-vax (sentiment) towards the referendum and how the Voice was apparently a backdoor for the UN (United Nations) to come in and steal Australian land,” Hobbs said.

 

“A lot of them claim they’re non-violent and peaceful, but obviously, they advocate for a lot of hate and division. They’ve internalised the view that they’re allowed to do whatever they want, which can be a trigger for violent behaviours.”

 

High-profile sovereign citizens have publicly called for politicians and health workers to be hanged for their work during the pandemic, such as former SAS soldier turned right-wing extremist, Riccardo Bosi.

 

Bosi led the unregistered AustraliaOne Party (A1) when he unsuccessfully stood in the western Sydney seat of Greenway at the 2022 federal election. Several of his claims have been debunked by AAP FactCheck, including over the legality of the Australian election, COVID-19 vaccines, former prime minister Scott Morrison and the war in Ukraine.

 

Fellow conspiracy theorist, Darren Bergwerf, has also run for the A1 party. Bergwerf founded the anti-vax group, MyPlace, and spoke on the ABC’s 7.30 program of a plan of MyPlace members to take “control of council decisions”.

 

The Herald does not suggest Bosi or Bergwerf are linked to the groups police are monitoring.

 

According to Hobbs, a collective bid to overthrow or attack law enforcement was not the “real risk” – he was more concerned with an increase in “individual acts of violence” from people being radicalised online.

 

“There are echo chambers, rabbit holes and nebulous algorithms where people get increasingly promoted by extreme positions,” he said.

 

“They’re frustrated and isolated, may have underlying mental health challenges, and there’s perhaps something that triggers them. They can become violent, and they can do real damage to themselves and to people around them, particularly police”.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 22, 2023, 6:50 a.m. No.20114706   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20114699

 

2/2

 

Where mental health was a concern, Hobbs said police should not go in “all guns blazing” to a distressed sovereign citizen making threats.

 

But he acknowledged that “when someone has an axe or gun in the back of their house, it can be hard to send in mental health people”.

 

“People don’t go from zero to 100 in one day, right? They get put on a path, and they’re gradually radicalised,” he said.

 

“There are earlier stages where mental health support programs can be helpful to get people off that path, much earlier than when they’re armed.”

 

Independent researcher into far-right extremism and conspiracy theories, Dr Kaz Ross, said any group refusing to acknowledge the law could be dangerous.

 

But, like Prof Hobbs, she feared the threat was not from groups “roaming around wearing sheriff badges and talking about citizen arrests”, but was from people “finding these movements online who may have mental health issues” and access to weapons.

 

How to combat these threats sensitively was a challenge, Ross said.

 

Through her research, she found the “over-policing” of certain sieges had contributed to deaths or serious injury.

 

“I think that’s another danger. People just hear the word ‘sovereign citizen’ and think, ‘Oh my God, that nut job with a gun’, and immediately go for them with full force,” she said.

 

Recent cases with sovereign citizen links

 

While statistics around deadly tragedies linked to sovereign citizens are scarce, there have been several troubling incidents in NSW alone this year.

 

In July, 29-year-old Daniel Whelan had suspected links to the sovereign citizen movement when he fired a gun at heavily armed police during a siege in Lithgow, before turning the weapon on himself.

 

Footage showed his partner surrendering in front of a flag bearing imagery from anti-government fringe political movements as the stand-off came to a grim end.

 

Two months later, Newcastle woman Krista Kach referenced herself as a “sovereign being” in a livestream video as she barricaded herself inside her house while armed with an axe. She died after being Tasered and shot with bean bag rounds by police.

 

Kach had significant mental health issues at the time, and the Herald revealed a specialised program which sees mental health experts help NSW Police manage people in distress only operates 9am-5pm and does not run in Newcastle, where Ms Kach lived.

 

Kach’s family said she was not a dangerous person and that she was distressed as a result of being told she was to be evicted from her home.

 

One of the most notable incidents outside the state was in December last year, when two police officers were murdered, and a third injured, at a shooting involving Nathaniel Train, Gareth Train, and his wife Stacey (also Nathaniel’s ex-wife) in a premeditated attack on their remote Queensland property, before posting a chilling YouTube Video. Police believe they were connected to the sovereign citizen movement.

 

A wide spectrum of people are linked to the movement and the Herald does not suggest they are all dangerous or violent.

 

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/moving-towards-violence-authorities-alert-to-radicalised-sovereign-citizens-20231116-p5ekh0.html

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 23, 2023, 6:31 a.m. No.20119265   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9272

>>20092945

David Sharaz: the witness who never appeared

 

Where was Sharaz when Lisa Wilkinson was fighting for her professional life in court? The evidence of the man dubbed ‘puppet master’ by Bruce Lehrmann would have been relevant.

 

STEPHEN RICE - December 23, 2023

 

1/3

 

As we take stock of the Lehrmann defamation trial, it’s worth casting an eye over the performance of the key players whose role will be central to Justice Michael Lee’s decision – with sharpest focus on the witness who never appeared.

 

Where was David Sharaz when Lisa Wilkinson was fighting for her professional life these past few weeks? Not in court, that’s for sure. Outside, yes: arriving every morning with his fiancee, Brittany Higgins, when she was giving evidence, deferentially a step behind but always in shot for the waiting photographers.

 

Then, gone from the building. But not from the narrative that slowly emerged in Lee’s courtroom: of a man who wasn’t in Higgins’s life when she allegedly was raped by Bruce Lehrmann in 2019 but who quickly become a central character in the events that followed.

 

Perhaps gone for good now, jetted off with Higgins on Monday to start a new life in the house she has bought in the south of France, just a year after her $2.4m payout from the Albanese government.

 

Lee, now considering his verdict in the defamation case Lehrmann brought against Wilkinson and Network Ten, clearly was irked that Sharaz – whose shadow loomed ever larger over the trial as it progressed – would not be giving evidence.

 

Ten told Lee it wouldn’t be calling Sharaz because he and Higgins met more than a year after the alleged rape. That might have been fair enough if the defamation case had been entirely about the events of that night, and not about Higgins’s much later claims to have been mistreated by her Liberal Party bosses. But those allegations – which seemed to coincide with Sharaz’s arrival on the scene – are central to the case.

 

The evidence of the man Lehrmann calls “the puppet master” would have been particularly relevant because he is the nexus between two very different alleged political conspiracies that have swirled in the undercurrent of the trial.

 

One was the claim aggressively pushed by Sharaz, that Higgins’s alleged rape was covered up by Liberal minister Linda Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown for their own political convenience, in the run-up to a tight federal election.

 

That was also the clear suggestion made in The Project interview and by Wilkinson and her producer Angus Llewellyn giving evidence in the defamation case – despite furious attempts by both their counsel to backtrack from it late in the proceedings.

 

The conspiracy theory was completely debunked by the Sofronoff inquiry, queried by Lee himself in a series of acerbic questions to Wilkinson and Llewellyn, and finally withdrawn by Wilkinson’s counsel, Sue Chrysanthou SC, from submission in the defamation trial.

 

The other allegation of political interference that has hovered on the edges of the defamation trial involves evidence that it was Sharaz himself who introduced Higgins to the then Labor opposition in a bid to weaponise her rape allegations against the Morrison government.

 

There’s hard proof of that, some of it revealed by The Australian in leaked text exchanges that show Sharaz’s close involvement in negotiating the public airing of Higgins’s story on The Project.

 

Sharaz was there when Higgins decided to tell her story in the media before telling it to the police, offering the scoop to Wilkinson, whom he’d met as the work experience kid at the Today show.

 

Sharaz was there when Higgins gave her first recorded police interview in March 2021, entering the room during a rest break according to senior Australian Federal Police constable Emma Frizzell in the Sofronoff inquiry. Sharaz then “without concern for Ms Higgins’ welfare, commenced showing and discussing media coverage to Ms Higgins”.

 

“I believe the level of media involvement did affect the conduct of the investigation of Ms Higgins’ complaint,” Frizzell said. “I believe it was a tool driven by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz, which is evident by the first engagement I had with them, whereby Ms Higgins advised she wished to see how the media played out prior to providing a statement.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 23, 2023, 6:33 a.m. No.20119272   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9279

>>20119265

 

2/3

 

Sharaz was on the phone to the AFP again later to let them know if they didn’t charge Lehrmann soon, Higgins would be going straight back to the media. That worked a charm – Lehrmann was charged within hours.

 

Sharaz was there at a five-hour meeting between Higgins, Wilkinson and Llewellyn in 2021 workshopping which “friendly” Labor politicians would push the story and put the Morrison government under pressure.

 

Sharaz was there in the vast tranche of previously unseen text messages, revealed by The Australian, boasting of his close relationship with Labor senator Katy Gallagher, now Finance Minister, as well as his moves to set up meetings between Higgins and Anthony Albanese, Tanya Plibersek and Malcolm Turnbull as well as other “Brittany Higgins fans” in Canberra.

 

But Sharaz was nowhere to be seen at the defamation trial after each morning’s photo op.

 

“You’re not calling him?” Lee asked sharply, with no attempt to hide his annoyance about the absence of the man whose fingerprints could be found on almost every suggestion of a cover-up of the alleged rape.

 

Now that those claims have been discredited or withdrawn – some of them thanks to well-aimed questions by Lee himself – the judge is entitled to be disappointed he didn’t get the chance to elicit an explanation from the man himself. And he is entitled to draw inferences about how Sharaz’s evidence might have affected the case. Not to mention the influence Sharaz exerted over Higgins.

 

“Would you accept that you have to be especially careful that people in a state of vulnerability are not being manipulated?” Lee asked Wilkinson.

 

When the TV presenter agreed, Lee reminded her that her producer, Llewellyn, had been using Sharaz as a conduit to communicate with Higgins.

 

“Do you think it was a good idea to use someone like Mr Sharaz as a conduit rather than deal with Ms Higgins directly?” he asked.

 

“My preference was for Ms Higgins to be the main conduit,” Wilkinson replied.

 

Lee asked Wilkinson if she considered herself a good friend of Sharaz, noting he had signed off an email with “much love, David”. Wilkinson said she hadn’t noticed at the time but indeed thought it was “odd” – and wouldn’t describe Sharaz as “a good friend”.

 

By the end of her two days in the witness box Wilkinson appeared so keen to disassociate herself from Sharaz she ignored orders from her own counsel to be quiet.

 

Wilkinson: Can I just add a significant fact?

 

Chrysanthou: No.

 

Wilkinson: Yes.

 

Chrysanthou: No. Thank you, your honour.

 

Wilkinson: You will be happy with this.

 

Chrysanthou: No.

 

Lee: Thank you … ?

 

Wilkinson: … I had only ever met him …

 

Chrysanthou: No, no, no. No, no, no, Ms … no.

 

Lee: Ms Wilkinson … ?

 

Wilkinson: … once in my life.

 

Now Ten has hit full reverse-thrust on any suggestion that The Project alleged a cover-up, despite its multiple claims that Reynolds and Brown had failed to help a young staffer who had just told them she’d been raped in the minister’s office, a remarkable back-flip that raised Lee’s eyebrows.

 

“(Llewellyn) is receiving information on background which is highly material to a serious allegation made against a minister of the crown … that on any view would amount to a criminal cover-up of a rape allegation, wouldn’t it?” Lee asked.

 

“I know Ms Wilkinson gave evidence that it was her subjective belief but the program says nothing of the sort,” replied Ten’s counsel, Matthew Collins SC.

 

Lee pointed out that The Project had claimed Reynolds and Brown “were engaged in requiring a woman to choose between her career and the pursuit of justice”, which “means that they were putting up, to use the words of the program, putting up a roadblock between someone seeking to vindicate their proper ability to seek justice”.

 

Collins argued that neither Brown nor Reynolds were mentioned in that opening sequence. Lee will make of that response what he will. He spent much time with Higgins trying to separate her “feelings” about her interactions with Brown and Reynolds from what they actually said that might have constituted untoward pressure or a threat.

 

He did the same with Wilkinson, trying to understand where her “intuition” finished and actual evidence of roadblocks began.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 23, 2023, 6:34 a.m. No.20119279   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20119272

 

3/3

 

This week, Chrysanthou conceded that despite the oft-repeated claims of her client during the trial, she would not be making any submission that Brown was “a knowing partipant in a systemic cover-up of rape”. She argued that Wilkinson had a “very limited” role as a decision-maker in The Project interview.

 

Lee pointed out that it was Wilkinson who had “immediately characterised” the story “through the prism of the obstruction allegation”.

 

Chrysanthou: “My client had very strong views and beliefs as to what should be included. And she had strong beliefs about the conduct of certain players in the affair. But ultimately it looks at what was actually published, not what was said in text messages.

 

“The word cover-up is not there. Systemic cover-up is not there,” she added.

 

Lee: “I just really do find that a very difficult construction of what went to air … when it’s introduced in the way it’s introduced, the reference to roadblocks, the whole piece is pregnant with the notion that there were people … who engaged in a course of conduct to prevent her from reporting this allegation to police.”

 

Lee made it clear during closing submissions this week that he thought both Higgins and Lehrmann had “real credit issues” and that parts of their evidence could not be accepted. That won’t come as a surprise to any of the tens of thousands of people who’ve watched the case unfold on the court’s live stream of the case.

 

Whatever conclusion Lee comes to over the truth or otherwise of the claim that Lehrmann raped Higgins, this trial could mark a significant step in the path back to rational thinking by government, the courts and the media.

 

The arc of stupidity that is the Higgins-Lehrmann saga reached its zenith early in the piece when Scott Morrison rose to his feet in parliament and issued an apology – on behalf of us all – to Higgins for a crime that had not yet been proven. We can quibble about this, of course. The saga could equally be argued to have hit peak lunacy late last year with the decision of the Albanese government to award Higgins $2.4m in compensation for a crime that had still not been proven – on evidence provided solely by the complainant.

 

However, in either case it was the nation’s leaders who through cowardice or connivance allowed a serious allegation that required a level-headed investigation to be sacrificed to base political considerations.

 

Morrison, under intense pressure from Labor and the nascent #MeToo movement to act on Higgins’s rape claims, lamented “the terrible things that took place here” – throwing his own ministerial colleagues and staff under the bus and instantly fanning the flames of the wildfire he hoped to extinguish.

 

We don’t yet know the circumstance in which the Labor government – the same crowd that weaponised Higgins’s claims for its own benefit in opposition – threw such a huge amount of taxpayer money at her.

 

An investigation of the payout by the National Anti-Corruption Commission – if a referral by Reynolds is accepted – might shed light on the one-day mediation that preceded the payout, excluding all contrary evidence. It would signal a return to the kind of clear-eyed decision-making about matters of public importance that we once expected of all our institutions of state. And, ideally, it would hear from all the key witnesses – especially the ones in the shadows.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/david-sharaz-the-witness-who-never-appeared/news-story/15e1eb96694814f9e67649efe05a46c3

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 24, 2023, 3:05 a.m. No.20123645   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20092959

Work starts on Adelaide AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine shipyard

 

The most important step has been taken on the shipyard set to build nuclear-powered submarines in a $368bn program centred on Adelaide.

 

Paul Starick - December 23, 2023

 

First work has started on the shipyard to build nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide as part of $368bn project, after a contract was inked for a storage area, bridge and road.

 

Site preparation started in the past week for a lay down and staging area to support the future construction workforce for the Osborne submarine yard, in Adelaide’s northwest.

 

A pedestrian bridge and road will be built from 2024 to enable the movement of thousands of workers during the yard’s construction and subsequent submarine program.

 

Up to 4000 workers will be employed to design and build the submarine construction infrastructure, while a further 4000 to 5500 direct shipyard jobs are expected to be created building the nuclear-powered boats at the program’s peak.

 

Defence Minister Richard Marles has revealed Australian Naval Infrastructure this week signed a contract with Shamrock Civil to start building the staging and laydown area, using part of at least $2bn earmarked by the federal government for early design and construction of the shipyard.

 

Mr Marles said the start of initial work at Osborne was an important milestone, ahead of starting building nuclear-powered submarines by the end of the decade.

 

“The submarine construction yard at Osborne will employ thousands of Australians to work on Australia’s SSN-AUKUS submarines and this announcement is a key first step towards realising those important local jobs,” he said.

 

“There is an enormous amount of work that has occurred over the last 12 months towards realising the AUKUS pathway and that progress will continue in 2024.”

 

Premier Peter Malinauskas hailed a “significant year of progress on AUKUS” and said 2024 would be “even bigger, with visible construction at Osborne”.

 

“In co-operation with the Commonwealth, we’ve progressed a historic land exchange to unlock the new submarine shipyard and skills academy, while enabling thousands of new jobs and well-located homes,” he said.

 

“Together, we have also made significant progress in preparing the detailed workforce planning, creating thousands of new university and training places to make sure we have the highly skilled workers ready for this mammoth undertaking.”

 

The US Congress on December 15 approved the transfer of nuclear technology under the AUKUS security pact, through which a submarine fleet will be based on a UK design and eventually built in Adelaide.

 

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/work-starts-on-adelaide-aukus-nuclearpowered-submarine-shipyard/news-story/1cca41997dea6ed53ab5eda201fed236

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qlKgGAOyd0

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 24, 2023, 3:45 a.m. No.20123743   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20108504

Usman Khawaja denied permission by ICC to display humanitarian logo at Boxing Day Test

 

PETER LALOR - DECEMBER 24, 2023

 

Usman Khawaja has been denied permission to place a peace symbol and reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on his bat for the Boxing Day Test but wore the sticker at training on Sunday.

 

The opener who was banned from wearing the words “freedom is a human right” and “all lives are equal” on his bat in the Perth match after his plans were revealed by The Australian is understood to be frustrated that attempts at a compromise have been rejected.

 

Khawaja had multiple meetings with his bosses at Cricket Australia to find a wording that would be appropriate to the local and international cricket authorities.

 

He compromised and came up with a dove peace symbol and reference to the first article of the UDHR after being told his initial words were inflammatory.

 

Khawaja had the sticker on his bat at training at the MCG on Sunday but has been told he cannot use it in the Test.

 

Article One of the UDHR states: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.

 

Khawaja has already been sanctioned for wearing a black armband in the Perth Test.

 

Khawaja said he went to great lengths to keep religion out of the statements on his shoes and emphasised his despair at watching the number of children killed in the conflict.

 

“I don’t have any agendas other than trying to shine a light on what I feel really passionately, really strongly about. I’m trying to do it in the most respectful way as possible,” Khawaja said.

 

“What I wrote on my shoes I thought about carefully, I made sure that I didn’t want to segregate different parts of the population, religious beliefs, communities. Hence why I’ve kept religion out of this. I want it to be really broad over my speaking because I am talking about humanitarian issues.

 

“I’m talking about Article One of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That is literally the crux of it.

 

“The reason I’m doing it is because it hit me hard. I told Nick (Hockley) this morning that when I’m looking at my Instagram and I’m seeing kids, innocent kids, videos of them dying, passing away, that’s what’s hit me the hardest. I just imagine my young daughter in my arms and the same thing. I get emotional talking about it right now again. And for me that’s the reason I’m doing this, I don’t have any agendas. I don’t get anything out of this I just feel it is my responsibility to speak up on this.”

 

Khawaja argued that other players, including Marnus Labuschagne who has a biblical reference, and Indian players who have Hindu symbols on their bats are in breach of regulations but the ICC turns a blind eye.

 

Michael Holding, one of the game’s great bowlers and most respected commentators, found his voice during the Black Lives Matter protests and won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize for his book Why We Kneel How We Rise.

 

The West Indian great is scathing of cricket’s hand-wringing over the Khawaja issue which he is monitoring from his home.

 

“I’ve been following the Khawaja fiasco and I cannot say I’m surprised by the ICC stance,” he told The Weekend Australian. “If had been most other organisations that showed some semblance of consistency with their attitude and behaviour on issues I could claim surprise, but not them.

 

“Once again they show their hypocrisy and lack of moral standing as an organisation.

 

“The ICC regulations say re messaging ‘Approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes’. So how the f..k people were allowed to take the knee for BLM and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colours???”

 

Khawaja has had the full support of his teammates during the wrestle with cricket authorities with captain Pat Cummins asking how people could be offended by the sentiments on his shoes.

 

“His shoes had ‘all lives are equal’, I don’t think that’s very divisive, I don’t think anyone can have too many complaints to that,” he said.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/cricket/usman-khawaja-denied-by-icc-to-continue-human-rights-message/news-story/a79c9c1516461fd601daa175a2fa1106

 

https://twitter.com/Uz_Khawaja/status/1736680713657999851

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 24, 2023, 3:54 a.m. No.20123773   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

>>20103721

>>20108499

Pro-Palestine activists target ABC office amid Antoinette Lattouf sacking

 

TILEAH DOBSON - DECEMBER 24, 2023

 

The ABC Radio’s office in Perth has been the target of vandalism by pro-Palestinian supporters, in response to the national broadcaster’s decision to fire Antoinette Lattouf earlier this week.

 

Ms Lattouf was meant to be a fill-in host for one of the network’s most coveted radio spots on ABC Sydney, but was axed after three shows for her anti-Israel social media posts.

 

A slew of complaints about Ms Lattouf’s content from the Jewish community had reached ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose.

 

Lattouf has repeatedly refuted the legitimacy of the “gas the Jews” footage from Sydney’s Opera House and posted numerous video on her social media accounts including X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok about this. She has also accused Israeli forces of committing rape.

 

It was reported on Friday she had lodged a Fair Work application claiming she was unlawfully terminated from her employment.

 

In the video obtained by The Australian, its message calls out the ABC’s actions as “censorship” and that it’s “an affront to the very idea of journalistic integrity”.

 

“Direct action was taken against the ABC Radio office in Boorloo/Perth to protest [the] unjust firing of Antoinette Lattouf over her factual reporting of the Israeli genocide against the people of Palestine.”

 

“This act of censorship by the ABC management is an affront to the very idea of journalistic integrity. While the ABC cower in the face of external pressure, 100 journalists have been killed while reporting on the genocide being committed by the state of Israel.”

 

In the video, an individual covered in a white scarf covers over the ABC Radio logo and proceeds to graffiti the words ‘Boycott’, ‘Justice for Antoinette’ and ‘Free Palestine’.

 

When contacted, WA Police confirmed the incident had not yet been reported.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/propalestine-activists-target-abc-office-amid-antoinette-lattouf-sacking/news-story/bb22e0ebc62065b4a09c1bba03b00c6b

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 4:23 a.m. No.20127963   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

>>20123786

Carols by Candlelight interrupted by pro-Palestine protesters in Melbourne

 

AISLING BRENNAN and ELI GREEN - DECEMBER 25, 2023

 

The actions of a pro-Palestine protester who disrupted Carols by Candle light in Melbourne have been condemned by Jewish leaders who are concerned that “guerilla type tactics” will be used at New Years celebrations.

 

Victoria Police have arrested the 21-year-old Brunswick woman and issued her with an infringement notice for carrying a controlled weapon while a second person was moved on by police.

 

On Christmas Eve, children performing at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl stage were rushed to safety after several protesters carrying Palestine flags descended out of nowhere to interrupt the show.

 

The Channel 9 cameras were filming hosts David Campbell and Sarah Abo when the incident unfolded during the live broadcast.

 

The protest was an attempt to “destroy our sense of security” according to Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich.

 

“These guerrilla type tactics are spiralling out of control and I’m sure that a most Victorians would have been rattled and shocked to the core to see these tactics of intimidation unfolding in front of children and parents,” he said.

 

“Carols by Candlelight was once a safe place for families to celebrate the beauty Christmas , but no more, as this tornado of prejudice is destroying our sense of security.”

 

The crowd was heard applauding as the kids returned to the stage and the show continued.

 

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin condemned the disruption on Sunday.

 

“You can always count on anti-Israel extremists to make everything about them and to appall decent, ordinary people,” Mr Ryvchin said.

 

“The chorus of boos tells them loud and clear they’re not wanted.”

 

Another two protesters were denied entry to the event according to a statement from Victoria Police.

 

One protester even tried to grab the microphone from Mr Campbell, managing to say “while you’re carolling, kids are dying in Gaza” before the audio was cut.

 

Mr Campbell interrupted his scripted dialogue when he realised the commotion on stage wasn’t part of the show.

 

“Hang on one second,” he said.

 

“Nice and easy.”

 

The singer tried to keep the crowd calm and informed as security guards removed the protesters from the stage.

 

“It’s all good, thank you everybody, everyone’s allowed to have their moment,” Mr Campbell said.

 

“The kids are safe, and they’re going to come back out.

 

“It’s important to come together on a night like this too when there’s a lot of pain out there and a lot of people are experiencing it.”

 

His co-host thanked the crew for their quick action in removing the protesters safely.

 

“It is the climate, we are in Melbourne,” Ms Abo said.

 

“Incredible work here by the team as well.”

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/carols-by-candlelight-interrupted-by-propalestine-protesters-in-melbourne/news-story/f092a804f06002e4cf65864d1278c829

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 4:32 a.m. No.20127981   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

>>20123786

Security to be reviewed after pro-Palestinian protesters interrupt Carols by Candlelight

 

Shelby Garlick and Alex Crowe - December 25, 2023

 

Security at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl will be reviewed after pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the stage during a live broadcast of Carols by Candlelight on Sunday night.

 

Children were rushed off the stage as two protesters ran across it waving Palestinian flags about 8pm.

 

A 21-year-old woman from Brunswick was arrested and police moved on a second person following the Christmas Eve demonstration.

 

An Arts Centre Melbourne spokesperson said on Monday that everyone had the right to protest peacefully “but not at the expense of the safety of others”.

 

The spokesperson said the incident was being managed by police and it would be inappropriate to comment further. However, it is standard practice to review arrangements after a security breach.

 

Police said the arrested Brunswick woman had been issued with an infringement notice for possession of a controlled weapon. They did not provide details on the type of weapon the woman allegedly took to the carols.

 

Security guards quickly removed one protester as the other tried to grab the microphone from host David Campbell, managing to say “kids are dying in Gaza” before they were also taken away by security.

 

After both were removed, Campbell appealed for calm and assured people the children about to perform were safe.

 

“They’re allowed to have their moment, they’re allowed to have their time in the sun, but we did have kids here, so we wanted to make sure those kids are safe, they’re gonna be back out in a second,” Campbell said as he attempted to reassure the crowd.

 

“It’s a very hard time in this world, it’s a hard time for us all to come together on a night like this when there’s a lot of pain out there. We’re going to just settle things down for a moment, and we’re all going to be fine.”

 

The children returned to the stage shortly after the disruption.

 

Another two protesters were denied entry at the gates, police said.

 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for a harmonious Christmas following the demonstration, telling reporters at a lunch in Sydney on Monday the holiday was a time for all people to come together.

 

“I have a very firm view that Australia’s social cohesion is absolutely critical and we need to bear that in mind in all of our actions,” he said.

 

Albanese served lunch to the homeless at the Exodus Foundation in Sydney’s west on Monday, joined by NSW Premier Chris Minns.

 

“This is a time in which we come together as a nation … where people have come, from different faiths, from different parts of the world to make Australia their home,” Albanese said.

 

“It’s important that be cherished and nourished and that we don’t seek to divide.”

 

Paul Kelly, G Flip and Casey Donovan were among the performers who lit up the stage for the annual Christmas concert on Sunday night.

 

They were joined by the cast of musicals Grease and Wicked, as well as carols regulars Denis Walter, Marina Prior and Silvie Paladino.

 

The event raises money for Vision Australia’s children’s services, with all proceeds supporting families and children who are blind or have low vision.

 

Carols by Candlelight, which is broadcast live by Channel Nine, the owner of this masthead, has been held on Christmas Eve in Melbourne since 1938.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/pro-palestine-protesters-interrupt-melbourne-s-carols-by-candlelight-20231224-p5etjp.html

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 4:43 a.m. No.20128008   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8011

>>20098526

>>20123786

Woman arrested after pro-Palestine protesters disrupt Carols by Candlelight

 

TRICIA RIVERA and ALEXI DEMETRIADI - DECEMBER 25, 2023

 

1/2

 

Jewish leaders warn new year’s eve and Australia Day ­celebrations will be subject to “guerrilla-type tactics” by pro-Palestine activists, after two protesters who hijacked a Carols in Candlelight show while children were on stage faced no charges.

 

Police arrested a 21-year-old woman who rushed the stage of the annual Christmas Eve event at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl over the concealment of a “controlled weapon”. But neither the woman nor her fellow protester was charged over the storming of the stage.

 

The 21-year-old was only handed a minor infringement notice over the weapon, which police refused to describe.

 

The incident unfolded in front of tens of thousands of people at the family-friendly event and tens of thousands more watching the broadcast live from home.

 

A woman holding a Palestinian flag ran around the stage before attempting to wrestle a microphone off hosts David Campbell and Sarah Abo.

 

“While you’re carolling, kids are dying in Gaza,” the woman screamed.

 

The protesters then disrupted child entertainers Emma Memma and Elvin Melvin’s performance at 8.30pm as children on stage were escorted to safety.

 

The event’s hosts reassured the booing crowd as security ­ushered the pair of protesters quickly off stage.

 

“They’re allowed to have their moment … But we did have kids here so we want to make sure those kids are safe, they’re going to come back out in a second,” Mr Campbell said. “It is a very hard time in this world. It’s a hard time for all of us to come together on a night like this too when there’s a lot of pain out there a lot of people are experiencing.”

 

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the Brunswick woman was arrested and issued with an infringement notice for possession of a controlled weapon. The second protester was moved on by officers and a further two activists were denied entry at the event’s gates.

 

Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich called the onstage protest “ugly” and said it sought to “destroy the spirit of Christmas”.

 

“These agents of division want to spread their hateful ideology of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel agenda everywhere,” he said.

 

“They are changing our city, once a tolerant haven, into a cesspool of propaganda. Carols by Candlelight was once a safe place for families to celebrate the beauty of Christmas.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 4:45 a.m. No.20128011   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20128008

 

2/2

 

Dr Abramovich said he was “very concerned” about “guerrilla-type protest tactics” being deployed in similar instances across new year’s eve and Australia Day.

 

“No one should be in fear in their own city, but this is sadly where we are heading to,” he said.

 

“I trust that law enforcement will identify those responsible for such vile actions and prosecute them to the full extent of the law. We have all had enough of this menace.”

 

Zionism Victoria executive director Zeddy Lawrence said new year and Australia Day celebrations were not the time to protest.

 

“However misguided or ­misinformed your views, we live in an incredibly tolerant society that by and large allows you to espouse them in public,” Mr Lawrence said.

 

“But there’s a time and a place for protesting and a family-friendly carol concert is neither – nor are new year’s eve or Australia Day celebrations, occasions that are meant to unite us.

 

“Disrupting such events does nothing to advance the prospects of peace in the Middle East and only serves to further fracture our already fragmented multicultural society.”

 

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein called the onstage activism “self-indulgent, inconsiderate and arrogant”.

 

“The protest and the attempt to hijack another culture’s celebration shows total disrespect and disregard,” Dr Rubenstein said.

 

“It is time those who are calling for further protests brought their agitators into line and denounced without reservation this premeditated Christmas Eve act.”

 

He said he was concerned the protest would not be an isolated incident, with fears similar stances could be seen on new year’s eve and Australia Day.

 

Anthony Albanese, when asked about the protest, said social cohesion was “absolutely critical”.

 

“This is a time in which we come together as a nation,” the Prime Minister said. And it’s important that be cherished and nourished and that we don’t seek to divide.”

 

Peter Dutton said the act was disappointing for the performers and children on stage at an “event that unites Australians”.

 

“I’m pleased it was resolved satisfactorily, but people should be respectful – and this protest was not,” the Opposition Leader said. “It was out of line and it should be condemned.”

 

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said attempts to disrupt the festive season would be “dimly viewed” by ordinary Australians. “I think most Australians are cognisant of the existential battle Israel is facing,” Senator Bragg said.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/woman-arrested-after-propalestine-protesters-disrupt-carols-by-candlelight/news-story/6b414ba8a5bcb36dcb3178cae3b14883

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 4:54 a.m. No.20128032   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8035 >>2126

>>20027549 (pb)

>>20098526

Agony of an ally: Anthony Albanese’s ‘Gaza contradictions’

 

ALEXI DEMETRIADI - DECEMBER 25, 2023

 

1/2

 

Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon has accused Anthony Albanese of contradictory messages over the war with Hamas, declared the Jewish homeland’s fight against terrorism has been held to a different standard from Australia’s own operations in Afghanistan, and lamented that his citizens did not feel secure in this country.

 

Amid another weekend of nationwide pro-Palestine stunts including the televised hijacking of Carols by Candlelight in Melbourne, Mr Maimon said Israel had a responsibility to toughen travel warnings on Australia and said Israelis did not feel secure in “your beautiful country.”

 

Following Labor’s U-turn to support a ceasefire at the UN ­general assembly this month, Mr Maimon, in a rare interview, also questioned how the Prime Minister himself could support both a pause in the war and the ultimate removal of Hamas from Gaza.

 

“I find it hard to understand how a democratic nation like Australia has doubts about Israel’s right to defend itself and use all possible means to ensure Israelis aren’t living under a similar threat (against Hamas) in the future,” Mr Maimon said.

 

“The Prime Minister understands that Hamas cannot be part of future governance in Gaza … yet supports a ceasefire. These are contradictory messages.”

 

In a viral video circulating last week, Hamas senior leader Ghazi Hamad appeared to applaud Australia’s ceasefire U-turn. Mr Albanese criticised the video as “propaganda”.

 

Mr Maimon said Israel was being treated differently from Western nations in its pursuit of terror groups, and made direct comparisons with the war in Afghanistan.

 

“I wonder what the international community’s reaction would be if, instead of Israel, it was Australia, New Zealand or the UK fighting against such an evil terror organisation,” Mr Maimon said.

 

“I wonder if they would be under the same pressure or calls (to lay down arms)? Or under the same kind of focus on the humanitarian situation or calls about adhering to law.

 

“I didn’t hear it (the same calls) when Australia was part of an international force fighting in Afghanistan … Israel is measured by a different standard.”

 

When criticisms of Israel’s military approach were put to him – according to the Hamas-run health ministry more than 20,000 people have been killed – Mr ­Maimon stressed that “Israel was in full adherence to international ­humanitarian and conflict law”, and doing its utmost to limit the death toll in Gaza.

 

“While I do understand some of the concerns … Israel are the victims, we were attacked,” he said.

 

“The war could be over ­tomorrow if Hamas surrender, gave up its arms and released its hostages.

 

“The pressure should not be on Israel (but Hamas).

 

“Israel is using its defence systems to defend its people against Hamas. Whereas Hamas is using theirs to defend their missiles and other weapons.”

 

On Christmas Eve, the Hamas-run health ministry claimed an ­Israeli air strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp had killed at least 70 people. The Israeli Defence Force said it was looking into the strike and that it had retrieved the bodies of five Israeli hostages killed in Hamas captivity from a tunnel network in northern Gaza.

 

After one of the deadliest days of the conflict, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war had come at a “very heavy price for his country” but that the Jewish state had “no choice” but to keep fighting amid reports Egypt had proposed a new ceasefire.

 

The Israeli ambassador’s comments came in the midst of another weekend of protests, with Melbourne’s Carols by Candlelight disrupted onstage by pro-Palestine activists on Christmas Eve. Mr Maimon said neither his embassy nor the Netanyahu government could no longer ignore a pattern of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli sentiment and language across the nation.

 

“We’re not talking about isolated events; they’re frequent … Personally, I feel sad that Israelis do not feel secure in your beautiful country,” he said.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 4:55 a.m. No.20128035   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20128032

 

2/2

 

The Israeli government uplifted its travel warning for Australia to “Level 2” this month, recommending Israelis take extra precautions when visiting.

 

Revealing his involvement in raising the travel warnings, Mr Maimon said any “responsible” government had to advise its citizens about the reality on the ground. “We had to do what every nation is doing in light of (pro-Palestine) protests and demonstrations,” he said.

 

The ambassador referenced scenes at the Opera House on October 9, but also pro-Palestine protesters who demonstrated at a Melbourne hotel on November 29 where relatives of Israeli hostages were staying.

 

“It’s not that we are advising Israelis against travelling here, but we alerted them they may encounter demonstrations and that they should be aware of it,” Mr Maimon said.

 

“It’s perfectly okay to support (a side), but in a respectful way, in a respectful manner.”

 

The ambassador – who was in Israel on October 7, and who has lost two family members in the conflict – said Israelis back home and in Australia had “never been more united than we are now”.

 

“I’ve been moved by the amount of events and activities led and organised by Israelis in Australia,” Mr Maimon said.

 

“That’s what the ‘Israeli spirit’ is all about – during a time of need, they come and show up, and that’s something very special.”

 

Mr Maimon said Israeli citizens had never been more disunited earlier in the year, given Israel’s domestic and political situation – something which had now been flipped on its head.

 

“Before October 7, there were a lot of reports on the domestic political situation, about weekly protests (in Israel) and the tension between different groups,” he said.

 

“But today, one of the things I’m very proud of is that – and even though people may have different views on how the government is handling the war – Israelis are all united, supportive of efforts to eradicate Hamas.”

 

Israeli and Arab media reported on Christmas Eve that Egypt had put forward ceasefire proposals that would be implemented in three parts.

 

The first phase would involve a seven to 10-day pause in which Hamas would release all civilian hostages in exchange for the release of some Palestinian prisoners, followed by a week-long second phase where Hamas would release all Israeli female soldiers in return for more prisoners and the exchange of corpses held since 7 October. In the third, month-long phase, the remaining hostages and a number of Palestinian prisoners would be released, and Israel would withdraw from the Gaza Strip and suspend all aerial activities.

 

Hamas’ health ministry has said more than 20,000 people have been killed during the conflict and more than 50,000 injured in Gaza. More than 1200 Israelis were killed and about 240 hostages taken during Hamas’s attacks.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/agony-of-an-ally-anthony-albaneses-gaza-contradictions/news-story/115ed903a47f26efd3c04f7db8295a4b

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 4:59 a.m. No.20128051   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Indigenous voice referendum ‘not my loss’, Anthony Albanese declares

 

PAIGE TAYLOR and JESS MALCOLM - DECEMBER 25, 2023

 

Anthony Albanese’s claim that his failed referendum was not a personal loss for him has sparked anger among top figures in the Yes campaign, with one Aboriginal leader indicating the remarks were proof white Australia would take no responsibility for the voice’s rejection.

 

The Prime Minister said on Monday the result was not “a loss for him” because he was not Indigenous and the debate was not about politicians.

 

He also said in an interview on Sydney radio 2GB that Aboriginal Australians disappointed by the referendum result were “used to hardship” and Labor would continue to work to close the gap.

 

Leading figures in the failed push for constitutional change immediately picked up on Mr ­Albanese’s remarks, with some claiming it as confirmation he believes the defeat belongs to them and not him despite Labor’s central role in the campaign.

 

At the Exodus Foundation in Sydney’s inner west on Monday while he was helping to serve Christmas Day lunch to the poor, Mr Albanese was asked about his year and “some big losses” such as the defeat of the voice at the ballot box last October.

 

“Oh, no, no, no, no, very important to call that out. I am not Indigenous so it wasn’t a loss to me,” the Labor leader said.

 

“That stays exactly the same the way it is. I do think that it was disappointing for First Nations people but they’re used to you know, getting the, they’re used to hardship. It’s been the case for 200 years, and they are resilient and we will continue to do what we can to provide for closing the gap.

 

“But it’s one of the things about this debate, it was never about politicians, it was actually about the most disadvantaged people in our society.”

 

One figure in the Yes ­campaign criticised Mr Albanese for claiming no sense of personal loss after championing the referendum, ­including in his election-night victory speech in May last year.

 

Another called on Labor to commission a review of the ­“referendum debacle” and the ­Albanese government’s role in it.

 

“Blacks did the work for seven years and Labor killed it,” one said.

 

Indigenous leader Sean ­Gordon, who supported the voice in an alliance with constitutional conservatives, agreed with Mr ­Albanese that Indigenous ­Australians were resilient people. Mr Gordon was a member of Mr Albanese’s referendum working group.

 

When asked about the Prime Minister’s assertion that the voice defeat was no loss for him, Mr Gordon replied that this was the issue for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who comprised a small percentage of the population.

 

“It’s the challenge of our 3.7 per cent,” Mr Gordon said.

 

“Regardless of the issue or the outcome, the 96.3 per cent white Australia are able to comfortably move forward without any ownership, responsibility or accountability for the result.”

 

The proposal for an Indigenous advisory body with a constitutional guarantee predated Mr Albanese’s prime ministership by more than a decade. It was the subject of reports and inquiries and it was the option favoured by a clear majority of Indigenous people who took part in the Uluru Dialogues held around Australia in 2016 and 2017.

 

Polling showed Australians were in favour of the concept for some five years and remained in favour after Mr Albanese announced in May last year that he would take the voice question to a referendum.

 

Support for a constitutionally enshrined voice began to slide in the first half of 2023, after the Coalition parties’ formalised their opposition to it, but before the final words of the proposed amendment had been settled. Ultimately, 61 per cent of Australians voted no to the voice on referendum day.

 

On Monday, Peter Dutton described the voice as Mr Albanese’s project. “The PM was obsessed with the voice for the best part of 18 months,” the Opposition Leader said.

 

“ He told Australians they were “chicken littles” if they opposed it, and he needlessly divided Australians. It’s remarkable he’s now saying it wasn’t about him. The PM is distracted and not focused on the issues that matter.

 

“He should reflect on these comments about his pet project – the voice – and make life easier, not harder, for Australians. The PM was so obsessed with the voice and being overseas that he missed the opportunities in his two budgets to make decisions to relieve cost-of-living pressures. It’s really hurt Australians and they are feeling the pain Mr Albanese created.”

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/voice-referendum-a-loss-for-the-people-not-me-anthony-albanese/news-story/7308baf584911bfa9f1ad785468992a4

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 5:07 a.m. No.20128077   🗄️.is 🔗kun

‘It feels good helping someone who helps others’: How Jess brought Christmas cheer to Maree

 

Najma Sambul - December 25, 2023

 

A free Christmas lunch has extended beyond the halls of a church in Melbourne’s north-east, as volunteers delivered meals, hampers and Christmas cheer to those in need.

 

One of the eight households the Diamond Creek Uniting Church volunteers visited on Monday was that of Maree Minns. Volunteer Jess shared a Christmas hug with Minns and delivered a meal of three meats and a salad.

 

The 69-year-old breast cancer survivor recently had a double mastectomy and said she could not shop for food to prepare for Christmas lunch for herself and a friend.

 

It is the second time Minns has received a Christmas lunch delivery from the Uniting Church after volunteers approached her last year. On Sunday, the volunteers delivered meals to community members in Heidelberg, Lower Plenty and Diamond Creek.

 

“They do a grand job and its just lovely,” Minns said.

 

Minns, a volunteer herself, has supported the Uniting Church with its annual Samaritan shoebox drive, where Christmas gifts like toys are put in shoeboxes and are given to children overseas. This year, more than 200 shoeboxes were collected.

 

She has also been a volunteer for Aussies Knitting for War Affected Kids, who make clothes and toys for children displaced by war.

 

“I’ve made some crotchet blankets to give to Syrian children in the past,” she said.

 

Her volunteer delivery driver, Jess, said it was his first time giving his time on Christmas Day to a community cause. Later in the day, he planned to volunteer at the Salvation Army Christmas Carols and Dinner in Brunswick.

 

“My mum and grandmother have always helped others and that’s where I get it from,” the 35-year-old builder said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to get some help myself, so it’s good to give back. It feels good helping someone who helps others.”

 

Back at the Uniting Church in Diamond Creek, dozens of other volunteers including families, friends, and people who came on their own, were busy cutting cheese, fruit and veggie platters, and meat for a free sit-down Christmas Day lunch for 130 attendees.

 

Organiser Graham Ford said it was the first time since 2019 that the in-person event was going ahead after being abruptly paused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the group did 180 meal deliveries on Christmas Day.

 

Throughout the day volunteers picked up 29 guests from 18 locations and prepared 153 meals.

 

“It really feels like Christmas when you’re giving to others,” Ford said. “I think it’s something that’s really good that the church does.”

 

The church has received donations from local businesses and community members to support the Christmas Day lunch.

 

“We asked the local chicken shop for some leftover salads from Christmas Eve, and they ended up giving us six chickens and a tub of coleslaw. It was great,” Ford said.

 

Vanitha, a healthcare worker from nearby Bundoora, volunteered last year and brought along her niece Kalwin this year. They don’t celebrate Christmas, but wanted to help the community on their day off.

 

“It’s just a good way to help everybody,” Vanitha said.

 

https://www.theage.com.au /national/ victoria/ it-feels-good-helping-someone-who-helps-others- how-jess-brought-christmas-cheer-to-maree -20231225 -p5etkv. html

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 5:15 a.m. No.20128098   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8102

The horror of Islamic State, then the gift of a child: My Christmas to remember

 

Andrew Hastie, Federal opposition spokesman for defence - December 25, 2023

 

1/2

 

I felt crushed. Like a prisoner. Like the universe had turned cold, closed, dark. I got up and walked out of the secure facility into the light and fresh air. It was December 2014. Christmas was only weeks away. I had just watched the latest Islamic State propaganda video, and they’d got inside my psychological shield and armour.

 

I was deployed as an SAS captain to Zarqa, Jordan, a small industrial town about a 40-minute drive north of Amman City. There, our small Australian team worked in a multinational taskforce gathering intelligence against IS, which was on a murderous march through Syria and Iraq. Violence and fear were their weapons, wielded through high-definition camera work and then pushed out to the ends of the earth online.

 

The IS narrative culminated in a brutal display of mass cruelty and violence in that video. Almost 20 captives, dressed in blue jump suits, their faces drained of colour and seized with fear, had been beheaded simultaneously with combat knives by young, angry men dressed in combat fatigues. It shook me to my core.

 

I was tired after a deployment with the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) to Afghanistan, chasing Taliban leaders and bomb-makers with my troop. War has its own moral cost, and individuals absorb it in their own way. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. You try to manage it, as best as you can.

 

It had already been a busy year. I’d been away from my wife, Ruth, for too much of it. And when I was home, we’d been going through the West Australian government process to be approved for adoption. It had been a difficult, deeply personal process, after dealing with years of unexplained infertility. We desired to build a home with little ones. We wanted what many Australians want: a family of our own.

 

In October, the approval for our adoption was confirmed. No sooner had we absorbed this life-changing news than I learnt I was going to be deployed for four months over the Christmas period. It seemed like things weren’t lining up for us, after all.

 

We often keep appointments that we don’t make for ourselves, and my deployment to Jordan was no exception. But Christmas 2014 is one of my most memorable, even though I was apart from Ruth.

 

A month after arriving, I got an email from Ruth, telling me that she was unwell and wasn’t going to continue playing touch rugby. I clicked on the attachment. A positive pregnancy test. It was an answer to prayer – even after my own hopes for children had faded into faithlessness in prayer.

 

I had lost hope for having a family and wondered whether it was time for me to leave the military. To build a life together that would mean we could be closer to family, and more helpful to others. Ruth’s email brought a smile to my face. It was typical of her style: understated, dry and cheerful.

 

But Islamic State’s shadow loomed large over the Middle East. We still had work to do. Ruth would do the first 20 weeks of pregnancy without me.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 25, 2023, 5:17 a.m. No.20128102   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20128098

 

2/2

 

After watching that horrifying IS video, I took in the light and air outside the facility. It was moments like these that I’d considered taking up smoking. Some of the most settled, contemplative faces on deployment were those pulling on a cigarette. But it wasn’t for me. The gym, and long hours of reading, became my refuge. Endorphins and perspective were the best tonic, and the best way to sleep.

 

That Christmas Eve, I attended a church service in Amman City. Police lights flashed outside. There was a ring of security around the building – provided by King Abdullah II and the Jordanian state – followed by two layers within the facility itself. At the gate, we were subjected to a full-body search and screening.

 

I found myself uttering a prayer of thanks for the things we take for granted in Australia: security, civic order and freedom of worship. Still, that service was a place of warmth and hope. I remember the faces of the people from around the world gathered to celebrate the birth of a child across the Jordan River 2000 years earlier.

 

I didn’t keep a diary of my time, but I clearly remember that Christmas Eve – and, of course, the news from Ruth.

 

It was hope that I felt most. The expectation. The good news at the heart of Christmas. That, despite the hideous deeds I was witnessing, we are not living in a closed universe. I was reminded that the clouds do disperse, and death’s dark shadows can be put to flight.

 

Emmanuel has come. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas. That’s what I felt to my core in 2014, and I trust it will be the hope for many at Christmas this year.

 

Andrew Hastie is the federal opposition spokesman for defence. He served with the SASR from 2010 until 2015.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-horror-of-islamic-state-then-the-gift-of-a-child-my-christmas-to-remember-20231220-p5esn4.html

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 26, 2023, 12:58 a.m. No.20132098   🗄️.is 🔗kun

OPINION: Please don’t forget about Ukraine. This war is about Australia too

 

Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukrainian ambassador - December 26, 2023

 

A current public service announcement on Australian television starkly warns of the deadly consequences of driver fatigue. It specifically mentions that most fatigue-related casualties are close to the driver’s home.

 

The ad makes me think of Ukraine’s situation in relation to the world, including its allies. As Russia’s unprovoked, full-scale invasion approaches its third year, some seem to have become fatigued by the war. Or, the war has been “overtaken” in the media cycle by other world events, such as the images from the Middle East that fill our feeds. Worse still, polarised American politics now threatens Ukraine aid.

 

Fatigue (or forgetting, ignoring or even neglecting Ukraine for domestic political gain) is truly dangerous, not only for Ukrainians but also their allies such as Australians. It is especially dangerous at this point when the war hangs in a balance.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted that the war on Ukraine is really Russia’s war on the West and the values that it stands for. If the West gives up on Ukraine, it gives up on its own democracies in favour of aggression and autocracy.

 

Now is especially not the time to allow that. The situation on the ground is that, following Russia’s occupation of more Ukrainian territory in February 2021, Ukrainian forces have steadily been liberating their homeland. Russian forces have not had a single substantial victory or gain in the past two years anywhere across a front of some 1300 kilometres – the distance from Sydney to Adelaide – and that shows the potential, with Western support, to defeat them in the coming period.

 

Ukraine’s grinding but gradual advance – criticised by Russian strategic propaganda – has been unprecedented. It involves infantry forces, like those trained by Australian Army personnel, moving forward through a maze of minefields, trench systems and fortifications without the benefit of air power – a feat never attempted in modern warfare. While Ukraine awaits promised fighter jets, it is now experiencing a shortage in the basic artillery shells that have enabled its soldiers to press ahead.

 

In response to its battlefield defeats, including massive casualties of its conscripts, Russia’s strategy is to unleash terror from the sky on Ukraine’s cities. That includes an attack last week on Kyiv with more than 10 ballistic missiles; that single attack cost the Russians more than $90 million – money that should be spent on their kids’ schools — to injure 53 local people.

 

Thankfully, we are not alone. Australia has been an absolutely loyal and active friend of Ukraine during its existential fight, which continues every day on battlefields if not in your headlines. We especially thank the government for most recently extending the training it is providing in the UK to Ukrainian troops.

 

A recent Channel Nine documentary by journalist Chris Uhlmann – Forged in Fire – highlighted how Australian technology including Bushmasters, cardboard drones and life-saving medical devices, as well as individual Australians in Ukraine such as humanitarian workers, chaplains and rugby league champions, are helping us. There is now a moral bridge over the great distance between our like-minded countries.

 

I have written to the Australian government to warn that Russia intends to make this a brutal northern winter for Ukrainians by again targeting their energy infrastructure. Ukraine has had to ask for Australia’s further support regarding energy supply and energy equipment to keep the lights and the heat on.

 

We need Australian coal for the winter.

 

In these representations, my government is very grateful for the support of peak business and mining groups and the union movement, including the Australian Workers Union, the Mining and Energy Union, and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association.

 

Everywhere I go in your beautiful country, I have regular Australians kindly ask me: “What’s going on over there?” It tells me that, while Ukraine’s defence of democracy is not on the front page and is subject to fatigue, it is still in Australians’ hearts and thoughts. That is to the benefit of Ukraine but, I suggest, also to Australia.

 

Vasyl Myroshnychenko is Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/please-don-t-forget-about-ukraine-this-war-is-about-australia-too-20231220-p5essr.html

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtxiL_qGp80

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 26, 2023, 1:28 a.m. No.20132126   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2128

>>20027549 (pb)

>>20098526

>>20123786

>>20128032

Jews say they do not feel safe in their Australian home

 

1/2

 

One of Australia’s most prominent Holocaust survivors has warned that the nation was having an “anarchic reaction” to the Israel-Hamas War and a generation of Jews at risk from a wave of anti-Semitism as anti-Israel protests erupted over the Christmas week.

 

Nina Bassat – who narrowly avoided the Nazi’s concentration camps as a toddler and whose father was killed during WWII – said on Monday that the protest hijacking of Carols by Candlelight had shook her to “the core” and that some Australians were failing to distinguish terror group Hamas from Palestine.

 

The 84-year-old’s comments come after anti-Israel activists filmed themselves protesting outside shops in Melbourne’s biggest shopping centre and the Christmas Eve disruption of the Carols.

 

“Not necessarily from a Jewish perspective, but (the disruption at) the Carols by Candlelight shook me,” the first Holocaust survivor to chair the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said.

 

“It showed an anarchic reaction in our society, that nothing seems to matter other than the loudest voice … (even though) people are celebrating Christmas.

 

“It’s a powerful thing (Carols by Candlelight), whether you’re Christian, Catholic, Jewish, whatever – and it (onstage activism) was symbolic of the anarchy that is taking place in society.”

 

Ms Bassat’s comments also come after Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon called Anthony Albanese’s Israel-Palestine police “contradictory”, said his country was “held to a different measure”, and lamented that Israeli citizens felt unsafe in Australia.

 

“We are suffering and frightened,” Ms Bassat said, one of more than 100 Holocaust survivors who signed a statement calling on Australians to denounce anti-Semitism and avoid “repeating history”.

 

She and her widowed mother, having been miraculously saved on their way to a concentration camp from the ghetto, were harboured by a Ukrainian woman until liberation.

 

“My children’s generation, their grandchildren, they were born here – this is their country,” Ms Bassat said.

 

“They are shaken to their core about how quickly and venomously this (anti-Semitism) has happened.”

 

Ms Bassat said her heart bled for “every child, adult and civilian lost” – “I know what war is like” – but said she feared Australia was “falling to bits”.

 

“In Melbourne and Sydney, you have town halls flying Palestinian flags,” she said.

 

“It’s Israel v Hamas, not Israel v Palestine. Do we want to become an outpost of Hamas terrorists?”

 

Ms Bassat’s comments come after the Israel’s ambassador told The Australian the Albanese government’s war stance was “contradictory” and that his own country’s citizens didn’t feel secure.

 

On Tuesday, Peter Dutton said it was concerning that an ally’s ambassador felt forced to intervene.

 

“It’s almost unprecedented that an ambassador would be forced to intervene in this way,” the Opposition Leader said.

 

“Israel has a senior, credible, and incredibly accomplished ambassador. The actions of the prime minister and his government are far from reassuring – and it’s unfortunate that the ambassador has been forced to call it out.”

 

Mr Maimon said his embassy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “had a responsibility” to raise travel warnings for citizens visiting Australia amid “frequent” pro-Palestine demonstrations.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 26, 2023, 1:29 a.m. No.20132128   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20132126

 

2/2

 

It comes as reports of serious incidents of anti-Semitism across Australia since Hamas’ October 7 attacks surged by 738 per cent, according to a report by Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the country’s peak Jewish body.

 

“The Jewish community has been rattled by the lack of leadership from the prime minister, while his senior ministers play to their electorates,” Mr Dutton said.

 

“We should be strong in demonstrating our resolve for the elimination of Hamas, and in the condemnation of anti-Semitism without qualification. And we should be supporting our Jewish community in their time of need.”

 

According to ECAJ’s report, 662 anti-Semitic incidents in October and November compares with 79 in the same period last year, a 738 per cent rise.

 

The peak Jewish body’s co-chief executive, Alex Ryvchin, echoed views that certain politicians appeared too focused on the views of their electorates.

 

“The Jewish community has been confronted by the normalisation of anti-Semitism, and the vicious incitement and disinformation that we fear is conditioning the minds of a new generation,” he said.

 

“The ease with which online influencers in particular peddle classic anti-Semitic tropes about greed, power and bloodlust under the guise of pro-Palestinian activism has been shocking.

 

“The fact that these people retain enormous followings and are still welcome in civilised society shows us that anti-Semitism is viewed as a lesser crime than any other form of racism.”

 

Mr Ryvchin said the community – “still wounded from Hamas’ atrocities and the reactions to them” – would not be “pushed around”.

 

“We have stared down greater foes than bloggers, small-minded clerics and politicians who put preselection above principle,” he said.

 

Previously, Mr Maimon posted on social-media platform X his concern about the southwest Sydney clerics, who The Australian revealed had called for jihad, recited parables about killing Jews, and urged Islamic countries to “spit on Israel” so the “Jews would drown”.

 

Both state and federal police dropped investigations into the sermons.

 

“One can only wonder: where, if at all, a line will be drawn,” the ambassador said on December 10.

 

On the government’s “contradictory” ceasefire stance, Mr Ryvchin said “demands should be made of the aggressor, Hamas”.

 

“This is not a war between two legitimate actors … it is a war between jihadist torturers and a civilised country,” he said.

 

“Whenever the government calls for a ceasefire or places demands on Israel it signals to Hamas that they have legitimacy and can cling to power.”

 

The Prime Minister’s office referred questions from The Australian to Mr Albanese’s previous comments condemning Hamas, that a ceasefire “can’t be one-sided … (and must) involve security for Israel”, and how the terrorist group couldn’t be part of Gaza’s future.

 

Speaking on Christmas Day, when asked about the Carols by Candlelight activism, Mr Albanese said social cohesion was “absolutely critical”.

 

“This is a time in which we come together as a nation,” Mr Albanese said. “And it’s important that be cherished and nourished and that we don’t seek to divide.”

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/jews-say-they-do-not-feel-safe-in-their-australian-home/news-story/2866ed90d70d881271af995ba55901cf

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 27, 2023, 2:25 a.m. No.20136736   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1880 >>1899 >>1913 >>1940 >>1959 >>2046 >>2058

>>20098526

Australian man, his wife and brother killed in Lebanon after building hit by air strike, family says

 

Nabil Al-Nashar - 27 December 2023

 

An Australian man and his brother have been killed in the south of Lebanon after their building was hit by an air strike, family members have said.

 

Ibrahim and Ali Bazzi died in air strikes on the town of Bint Jbeil in Lebanon overnight.

 

Ibrahim Bazzi, 27, travelled from Sydney to Bint Jbeil to visit his wife Shorouk Hammoud, who recently acquired an Australian visa.

 

The couple were planning on starting their new life in Australia, according to relatives.

 

Local media in Lebanon is reporting that an Israeli war plane fired a missile at number of homes in Bint Jbeil overnight.

 

The Israeli military said it had been striking Hezbollah targets based in Lebanon in response to what it says are rockets and missiles being fired into northern Israel by the militant group.

 

Australian born and raised Ali Bazzi moved to Lebanon to get married a few years ago.

 

Ms Hammoud's first cousin Mohamed Hammoud, who lives in Sydney, told the ABC Ibrahim Bazzi felt strongly about travelling to Lebanon in person to bring his wife to Australia.

 

"My family is numb. My family is devastated. My family is in disbelief," he said.

 

"We were expecting to meet and greet them here and welcome her to Australia and now that's not to be…utter disbelief."

 

Mr Hammoud said all he had left of his cousin were beautiful memories.

 

"She used to paint my daughter's fingernails, she was full of life and happy."

 

Ibrahim Bazzi was an electrician and a construction worker from the St George area in Sydney's south.

 

He married Ms Hammoud in Lebanon three years ago and was working to set up their life in Sydney.

 

His uncle, Mohamed Kahmees, described Ibrahim Bazzi as "a beautiful boy".

 

"He went to get his wife from Lebanon for a better life…and then this happened," he said.

 

"I'm really in a state of shock still."

 

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the ABC it was aware of reports an Australian citizen has died in Lebanon and was seeking confirmation.

 

Ibrahim Bazzi is the first Australian to be killed in Lebanon since the start of the Gaza conflict.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-27/australian-and-wife-killed-in-lebanon-air-strike/103267574

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 27, 2023, 2:36 a.m. No.20136757   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

Australian Museum to amend ‘Palestine’ display after complaints about Egypt exhibition

 

Paul Sakkal and Anthony Segaert - December 27, 2023

 

The Australian Museum is pulling down and rewording a display at a new Ancient Egypt exhibition after an Australian Jewish group complained about the use of the placename “Palestine”.

 

The highly anticipated Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs includes a text panel that describes Ramses the Great’s involvement in the 1275BC Battle of Kadesh, which it states involved “fighting … in Libya and Palestine”.

 

Days before Christmas, the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) announced on social media it had written to the museum “about inaccurate use of the word ‘Palestine’ in an exhibit on Ancient Egypt”.

 

The Sydney institution issued a statement to this masthead saying it used “both ancient geographic locations such as the site of the Battle of Kadesh and modern geographical context referencing Ramses’ battles in what is known today as Libya and Palestine.”

 

“For clarity,” the statement said, the panel would be amended to refer to the area as “what is today known as Libya and Palestine”.

 

“The terms Libya and Palestine are not being removed from the text panels.”

 

The Battle of Kadesh occurred in modern-day Syria. The museum could not answer on the record when asked which of Ramses’ battles occurred in either the Gaza Strip or the occupied West Bank, which are mostly under the control of Palestinian authorities. It is unclear if the display used the term Palestine to refer to areas inside the state of Israel.

 

The museum’s decision is the latest domestic dispute over the history of the Israel-Palestine region, against the backdrop of a bloody war in Gaza that has sparked conflagrations in art, sport, politics and media.

 

Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said it was another case of “Palestine, Palestinians, our history, our cultural heritage and stories being invisibilised, minimised, rewritten, if not completely erased, by an Australian institution at the command of a Zionist lobby group”.

 

“The important thing to note here is that it is not the goal of the Zionist lobby to achieve historical accuracy, but rather to contribute to a broader project – which we’re seeing play out in Israel government violence in both Gaza and the West Bank – of eliminating any trace of the Palestinian people in their historic and ancient homeland”.

 

Mashni wrote a letter to the museum on Wednesday citing the research of Palestinian writer Nur Masalha, which he claimed demonstrated the term Palestine, or Filastin in Arabic, had been used since the Late Bronze Age and had been found in inscriptions dated to 3300 years ago, including in the temple of Ramses III.

 

The AJA wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the museum’s decision represented a “success” for the group, whose president is the controversial conservative figure David Adler. He declined to comment further when approached for this story.

 

Both Adler and Mashni have come under scrutiny following reporting on this masthead in recent months.

 

Leading groups such as the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council and Executive Council of Australian Jewry distanced themselves from Adler after he questioned Senator Lidia Thorpe’s Aboriginal heritage and repeatedly suggested journalist Stan Grant artificially darkened his skin.

 

Senior Jewish Australians have for years called out Adler’s comments and said the name of his association was misleading because it implied he spoke on behalf of a large portion of the Jewish community, which they say he does not.

 

Mashni was criticised by an extremism expert over comments he made about the destruction of the state of Israel and for claiming global power structures “all focus upon Zionism”. Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the Australian Jewish News in November that “comments and actions by Mr Mashni have been reprehensible”.

 

The travelling exhibition, which was transported from Egypt to Sydney via Paris, was a major coup for Australia’s oldest museum. The blockbuster sold 100,000 tickets before it opened and features a 1.85-metre high coffin of Ramses II, which has not been displayed outside of Egypt until this year.

 

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australian-museum-to-amend-palestine-display-after-complaints-about-egypt-exhibition-20231227-p5etum.html

 

https://twitter.com/AustralianJA/status/1738020391371850087

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 1:31 a.m. No.20141880   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

>>20136736

Australian killed in Lebanon was Hezbollah fighter, terror group says

 

JOANNA PANAGOPOULOS and ALEXI DEMETRIADI - DECEMBER 28, 2023

 

Terrorist organisation Hezbollah has said one of two Australian men killed while in a southern Lebanese town was one of its fighters, with a ceremonial funeral taking place overnight as he “rose as a martyr”.

 

Meanwhile, the Australian government confirmed the brothers’ deaths and said it would provide consular assistance to the family.

 

On Wednesday, local media in Lebanon reported that 30-year-old Ali Bazzi, his 27-year-old brother Ibrahim – both Australian – and the younger brother’s wife, Shourouk Hammoud, were reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.

 

Late on Wednesday, Hezbollah said that Ali Bazzi was one of the group’s fighters.

 

“With greater pride and pride, the Islamic Resistance celebrates the martyr Mujahid Ali Ahmed Bazzi ‘Qasim’ from the city of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, who rose as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem,” a statement from the terrorist organisation read.

 

“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed the deaths of two Australian citizens in an air strike in southern Lebanon,” a DFAT spokesperson said on Thursday morning.

 

“The Australian Embassy in Beirut stands ready to provide consular assistance to the family if required.”

 

The Australian understands DFAT is aware of the tweet claiming that one of the Australians was ‘martyred’ while on duty with Hezbollah, which is a listed terrorist organisation under Australian law.

 

Speaking to the ABC on Wednesday, family members of the Bazzi brothers, and Ms Hammoud, said the younger brother had travelled to the city to collect his wife and return to settle in Australia.

 

Hezbollah has made no mention of Ibrahim Bazzi, and there is no suggestion he had any links to the terror group.

 

A funeral service in Bint Jbeil was held on Wednesday for all three, with each person’s casket adorned in Hezbollah flags and pictures of the three enlarged on commemorative awning.

 

A X account appearing to be that of Hezbollah secretary-general, or at least associated with him, Hassan Nasrallah also shared the group’s statement commemorating its “martyr” Ali Bazzi.

 

Hezbollah enjoys widespread support in the area, which is close to the Israeli border. The town itself was a key site of the 2006 Lebanon War and has been a major centre of the Lebanese resistance, as well as a known base for the terror group.

 

On Wednesday, the Department of Foreign ­Affairs and Trade said it was investigating reports that an Australian man and his wife have been killed in an air strike in Lebanon.

 

Lebanese media reported that the three were killed when a two-storey building was struck by an Israeli warplane overnight on December 26. The house was destroyed.

 

Israel’s Air Force told local media that it had destroyed Hezbollah military installations and terrorist infrastructure.

 

On Wednesday, the brothers’ uncle, Mohamed Kahmees, told the ABC: “He (Ibrahim) went to get his wife from ­Lebanon for a better life … and then this happened. I’m really in a state of shock still.”

 

He described Ibrahim Bazzi as a “beautiful boy”.

 

Ms Hammoud’s first cousin, Sydney man Mohamed Hammoud, told the ABC the family was devastated at the news. “My family is numb. My family is devastated. My family is in disbelief,” Mr Hammoud said.

 

DFAT’s official travel advice says Australians should not travel to Lebanon, saying “daily military action is occurring in southern Lebanon, including rocket and missile fire, as well as air strikes.”

 

Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organisation by Australia, the United States and the UK. The Iranian-backed group formed after the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in 1982 and like Hamas, which it supports, is also backed by Iran.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/dfat-investigates-reports-australians-killed-in-lebanon/news-story/d7e6e3b8239b6161c3e812669e432a05

 

https://twitter.com/SH_NasrallahEng/status/1739921805467431092

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 1:40 a.m. No.20141899   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

>>20136736

Military-style funeral held for Australian 'Hezbollah fighter' killed by Israeli air strike in Lebanon

 

Nabil Al-Nashar - 28 December 2023

 

A military-style funeral has been held for an Australian man claimed to be a fighter with militant group Hezbollah, a day after he, his brother and sister-in-law were killed in an Israeli air strike.

 

Brothers Ali and Ibrahim Bazzi, along with Ibrahim's wife Shorouk Hammoud, died when the explosion levelled a family-owned home in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

 

Twenty-seven-year-old Australian citizen Ibrahim had travelled from Sydney to Lebanon last Friday to accompany Ms Hammoud, who had recently acquired an Australian visa, back home.

 

The couple, who were married three years ago, was killed when the explosion levelled the Bint Jbeil home they were staying in.

 

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed Ibrahim's 30-year-old brother Ali, also an Australian citizen, as one of their fighters.

 

The ABC has no evidence to suggest Ibrahim or his wife were affiliated with Hezbollah.

 

Hundreds attended the funeral in the town and their caskets were draped in Hezbollah flags and showed the faces of the Bazzi brothers and Ms Hammoud.

 

Memorial services for all three are planned for today and tomorrow at Alzahara Mosque in Sydney.

 

The Israeli military said it had been striking Hezbollah targets based in Lebanon in response to what it says are rockets and missiles being fired into northern Israel by the militant group.

 

Tensions have been escalating between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Israeli Defence Force along the Lebanese-Israeli border since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war.

 

Israeli chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday Hezbollah was "trying to drag" Lebanon and the entire region into an "unnecessary" war, and the Israeli military is responding to attacks by targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.

 

Benny Gantz, a minister in Israel's war cabinet, also issued a warning over the ongoing fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border.

 

"If the world and the Lebanese government will not act to stop the firing on the northern settlements and keep Hezbollah away from the border — the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) will do so," he said.

 

Hezbollah-affiliated media outlet Al-Manar said in response to the attack in Bint Jbeil, fighters targeted Kiryat Shmona settlement in Israel on Wednesday with 30 rockets.

 

Government warning to not travel to Lebanon

 

Attorney-General and Acting Foreign Minister Mark Dreyfus said there had been warnings for Australians not to travel to Lebanon since October.

 

"Australians should not travel to Lebanon," he said.

 

"Australians in particular should avoid conflict zones … the Australian government urges any Australians who are still in Lebanon to leave while commercial options are still available."

 

He also expressed condolences to the family of Ibrahim Bazzi.

 

Mr Dreyfus said the Australian government had made representations to the Israeli government but would not disclose the nature of the message.

 

He also said Hezbollah was a listed terrorist organisation and that "it's an offence for any Australian to cooperate with, to support, let alone to fight with a listed terrorist organisation like Hezbollah".

 

Mr Dreyfus said past examples of links between Hezbollah and Australians is one of the reasons the group is listed as a terrorist organisation.

 

Family was waiting to welcome couple

 

Their families in Sydney say they were looking forward to greeting the young couple planning to start their new lives together in Australia.

 

Bazzi family spokesperson Hasssan Bazzi told the ABC he condemned "the attack on civilians" and that the family is very angry.

 

"Our fellows in Lebanon are standing under the attack of the Israeli's on daily basis. Lebanon, Palestine, Gaza strip, everyday the victims are children and innocent women and the whole world is not taking even any action," he said.

 

"Unfortunately our prime minister and our premier this is an Australian fellow, he got killed by Israel, your allies."

 

Bint Jbeil mayor Afif Bazzi said he was shocked by the attack.

 

"The surprise is they hit civilian neighbourhoods, people living their normally … we didn't leave Bint Jbeil. All the people of Bint Jbeil are still here," he said.

 

"We hear bombing, but it was far away, the city was still protected. But we were surprised that a civilian neighbourhood was hit … a groom coming to get his bride to Australia."

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-28/funeral-australian-brothers-lebanon-israeli-air-strike/103269076

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 1:47 a.m. No.20141913   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

>>20136736

Mark Dreyfus yet to confirm killed Australian’s Hezbollah links

 

RACHEL BAXENDALE - DECEMBER 28, 2023

 

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is unable to say whether Australia was aware one of two Australian brothers killed by an Israeli air strike in Lebanon may have had links to Hezbollah before the proscribed terrorist organisation claimed him as one of their own.

 

Ali Bazzi, 30 and his 27-year-old brother Ibrahim were killed alongside the younger brother’s wife, Shourouk Hammoud, in the Southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.

 

Late on Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed Ali Bazzi as one of their fighters, celebrating him as a “martyr”.

 

Addressing journalists in Melbourne on Thursday morning, Mr Dreyfus said Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had overnight confirmed the deaths of two Australian citizens in an air strike in southern Lebanon.

 

“The Australian Embassy in Beirut stands ready to provide consular assistance to the family as required,” Mr Dreyfus said.

 

“We are aware of the announcement made by Hezbollah claiming links to one of the Australians killed. We are seeking to establish the facts. However, Hezbollah is a listed terrorist organisation under Australian law.”

 

Asked whether Australia had been aware of any link between Ali Bazzi and Hezbollah before now, Mr Dreyfus said the government was investigating the issue.

 

“We are continuing to make inquiries, but Hezbollah is a listed terrorist organisation under Australian law.”

 

Asked whether Australia had been aware of any link between Ali Bazzi and Hezbollah before now, Mr Dreyfus deflected, saying: “We are continuing to make inquiries, but Hezbollah is a listed terrorist organisation under Australian law.”

 

Mr Dreyfus said there was daily military activity in southern Lebanon, including rocket and missile fire, as well as airstrikes, and a warning against travelling to the area had been in place since mid October.

 

“For Australians in Lebanon, we urge you to leave while commercial options remain available,” he said.

 

“In the context of the current conflict, Australia has consistently called for civilian lives to be protected, and we have consistently raised our concerns about the risk of this conflict spreading.

 

“It is why we have been working with countries who have influence in the region to prevent further escalation, and it is why we have been advising Australians not to travel to Lebanon.”

 

Mr Dreyfus said there had been examples in the past of Australians having had links to Hezbollah.

 

“One of the reasons why the Australian government has listed Hezbollah, in both its arms, as a terrorist organisation, is because of the potential links to Australia and Australians.”

 

Asked whether the brothers were dual citizens, the Attorney-General said authorities were “continuing to make inquiries”.

 

Asked to elaborate on the nature of the inquiries and what information was being sought, Mr Dreyfus said it was important that the Australian government be “as informed as possible when this sort of event happens”.

 

Mr Dreyfus said Australia had communicated with Israel following the airstrike, “but I’m not going to disclose those communications.”

 

He said any Australian fighting with Hezbollah was committing a very serious terrorist offence under the criminal code.

 

“There are very heavy penalties attached to committing that kind of offence, and I’d repeat because Hezbollah is a listed terrorist organisation,” Mr Dreyfus said.

 

“It’s an offence for any Australian to provide financial assistance to that terrorist organization, to fight with that terrorist organization or to be associated with them.”

 

The Attorney-General said he was “not personally aware” of any Australians travelling to Lebanon to fight with Hezbollah in recent weeks.

 

“It’s very important that Australians not travel to Lebanon,” he said.

 

“The reason why the Australian government has listed all of this organisation, Hezbollah, and a number of other terrorist organisations as terrorist organisations is to provide a deterrent to Australians from giving their assistance, to joining with, let alone the fighting with terrorist organisations.”

 

Asked whether he would offer condolences to the family of the brothers, Mr Dreyfus said: “Of course I express my condolences to the family of the man who’s travelled to Lebanon. I say again, as I said in my opening statement, that full assistance of Australian consular officials in Beirut are available to them.”

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/mark-dreyfus-silent-over-killed-australian-hezbollah-links/news-story/542c536058fba33a0ff404336764d395

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 1:57 a.m. No.20141940   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1950

>>20098526

>>20136736

Australians should leave Lebanon now after two citizens killed, federal government warns

 

Olivia Ireland, Jessica McSweeney and Latika Bourke - December 28, 2023

 

1/2

 

Australians in Lebanon should leave the country as soon as possible, warned acting Foreign Minister Mark Dreyfus, following confirmation that two citizens were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

 

Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said one of two Australian brothers killed in the strike on Wednesday, Ali Bazzi, was one of its fighters, which Dreyfus said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) was still investigating.

 

The two men, Ali and Ibrahim Bazzi, as well as Ibrahim’s wife Shorouk, died in Israeli attacks on the southern Lebanese city of Bint Jbeil. However, family and friends of Ibrahim, who was known by loved ones as Bob, said they believed he had no connection to Hezbollah and wished he had never travelled there while the conflict was still unfolding.

 

Speaking from Melbourne on Thursday, Dreyfus said he had received confirmation from the Israeli government the two men had died, and any Australians who fought with, associated with, or gave money to Hezbollah – a listed terror organisation – would be committing a crime.

 

The Bazzi brothers are the first Australians confirmed as killed by Israeli air strikes in the current conflict.

 

The attorney-general, acting as foreign minister while Penny Wong is on leave, said the government was continuing to make inquiries about Ali Bazzi’s links to Hezbollah after the terrorist organisation proclaimed him – but not his brother – as a martyr and gave him a military style funeral.

 

“We will continue to make inquiries about this particular person with whom Hezbollah has claimed links,” he said.

 

The Morrison government declared all of Hezbollah, not just its External Security Organisation, as a terrorist organisation in November 2021, making it an offence to be a member or to provide any form of assistance to the organisation.

 

Hezbollah, which dominates Lebanon’s security and political institutions, has been accused of terrorist attacks, kidnappings and smuggling weapons and explosives.

 

The External Security Organisation is Hezbollah’s military and security wing that operates outside Lebanon. It also has a paramilitary wing, the Jihad Council, and a political wing, the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party, which has MPs in the Lebanese parliament.

 

“Any Australian fighting with Hezbollah is committing a very serious terrorist offence under the Criminal Code,” Dreyfus said.

 

Dreyfus stressed that it was “very important for Australians not to travel to Lebanon,” and said listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation was meant to “provide a deterrent” to any Australians assisting the organisation, “let alone fighting with them”.

 

Asked if there was a government response to the killing of Australians by Israeli strikes, Dreyfus said he had “made the point that there had been a travel warning not to travel to Lebanon in place since mid-October. It remains in place.”

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 2:01 a.m. No.20141950   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20141940

 

2/2

 

Ali Saab remembered his “best friend” Ibrahim Bazzi as a dedicated husband and hard worker. Speaking from their share house in Rockdale, he said Bazzi arrived in Australia during the pandemic in 2021, and after a stint in hotel quarantine, started taking any labouring shift he could, working as much overtime as possible to save for his wedding and house.

 

The pair worked together fixing footpaths and roads for councils around Sydney and in regional NSW. Ibrahim had started taking up a leadership role and was a stickler for safety, Saab said.

 

Saab last saw his best friend when he dropped him off at the airport just a week ago, giving him a stern warning to be safe and wishing he wouldn’t go.

 

“I told Bob ‘I want you to be careful in Lebanon, it’s not safe there’ … but we never thought his house would be bombed, he had nothing to do with this conflict,” he said.

 

Saab said Bazzi was so excited to bring his wife to Australia after she was granted a visa, he did not want to wait any longer. In the weeks before his death Saab took trips to Ikea in Sydney to plan furniture he might buy and looked at real estate listings for houses around the Camden Valley area.

 

“It’s just not fair, he had nothing to do with this conflict,” Saab said.

 

On Thursday, a group of Bazzi’s friends gathered at the Rockdale house and told the Herald that he rarely spoke of his brother, and once said he wished they had a closer relationship. Saab’s wife Kawthar Roumie said she only learned Bazzi had a brother when she heard news of the bombing.

 

Roumie remembered Bazzi as an “average Muslim guy” who was not interested in talking about politics or religion. She said they never spoke about Hezbollah, and believed Bazzi and his wife were innocent victims.

 

Saab said Bazzi had just undergone laser eye surgery in Lebanon and was taking a night to rest in Bint Jbeil before moving on to a different village the next day.

 

“He took his medication that night and never woke up,” Saab said.

 

https://www.smh.com.au/national/australians-should-leave-lebanon-now-after-two-citizens-killed-federal-government-warns-20231228-p5eu2n.html

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 2:03 a.m. No.20141959   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

>>20136736

Lebanon airstrike: Albanese government raises deaths of two Australians with Israel

 

Ibrahim Bazzi died in Bint Jbeil alongside his wife, Shorouq Hammoud, who had a visa to settle in Sydney, and his brother Ali, an alleged Hezbollah fighter

 

Amy Remeikis - 28 Dec 2023

 

The federal government has raised the deaths of two Australians with Israel, after the brothers and one of their wives were killed in airstrike in a home in southern Lebanon.

 

The acting foreign minister, Mark Dreyfus, confirmed two Australians died in the Israeli airstrike in al-Dawra neighbourhood in the town of Bint Jbeil, and said the Albanese government had been in “communication” with Israel after the deaths.

 

Dreyfus would not go into details about what was said or what form the communication took.

 

The dead have been identified by Middle Eastern media as Ibrahim Bazzi, his wife, Shorouq Hammoud, a Lebanese citizen, and his brother Ali Bazzi, who Hezbollah claimed was a fighter with the Shia Muslim group.

 

Funerals for the trio were held overnight in Lebanon.

 

The Associated Press news agency filed pictures from the town of Bint Jbeil showing the funeral, with coffins draped in Hezbollah flags.

 

Dreyfus said the government was “aware of the announcement made by Hezbollah claiming links to one of the Australians killed”, but was still “seeking to establish the facts”.

 

“We are continuing to make inquiries but, I repeat, Hezbollah is a listed terrorist organisation under Australian law,” he said.

 

“It is an offence for any Australian to cooperate with [or] to support, let alone to fight with, a listed terrorist organisation like Hezbollah.”

 

Dreyfus urged any Australians in Lebanon “to leave while commercial options remain available”.

 

“In the context of the current conflict, Australia has consistently called for civilian lives to be protected and we have consistently raised our concerns about the risk of this conflict spreading,” he said.

 

“It is why we have been working with countries who have influence in the region to prevent further escalation and it is why we have been advising Australians not to travel to Lebanon.”

 

Regional media have reported further detail about the deaths.

 

“They were in their homes,” a medic who works with the civil defence in southern Lebanon told the National, an English-language United Arab Emirates-based news outlet.

 

He said there were no signs of fighting nearby before the strike and that Hammoud had been recovered first from the debris.

 

“When they found her she was alive but she died shortly after,” he told the National. This could not be independently confirmed.

 

Lebanon’s National News Agency also reported the deaths, saying the home belonged to the Bazzi family.

 

Hezbollah, which has widespread support in the area, later announced that Ali Bazzi had been one of the group’s fighters. In a post mourning his death on its website it said he “rose as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem”.

 

As an ally of the Palestinian Islamist faction Hamas, Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israel across Lebanon’s southern frontier since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began on 7 October.

 

Asked about the airstrike, the Israeli military said one of its jets had hit a Hezbollah military site overnight in Lebanon, Reuters said.

 

Hammoud had been granted an Australian visa. She and her husband, who have been married for three years, planned to travel soon to Sydney, Nine News reported.

 

Ibrahim Bazzi is believed to have moved to Australia in 2020-21.

 

Australia’s Smartraveller website maintains a “do not travel” warning for Lebanon, citing the possibility of increased armed conflict, as well as daily military action in the country’s south, including airstrikes.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/28/australian-brothers-reported-killed-by-israeli-airstrike-in-lebanon

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHjs8iiQYNI

 

https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/middle-east/lebanon

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 2:15 a.m. No.20141981   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

>>20123786

Carols by Candlelight protester may have had help on inside

 

JOHN FERGUSON - DECEMBER 27, 2023

 

The review into the Carols by Candlelight raid by pro-Palestinian activists in Melbourne is set to examine whether any inside assistance was provided to protesters on the night.

 

Arts Centre Melbourne, police and the main sponsors have begun talks to determine what went wrong with the security on the night of the raid and how the activists were able to turn the event into a national embarrassment.

 

ACM said the matter had been referred to police and the main stakeholders in the event would fully examine how the activists were able to orchestrate the ­hijacking of the stage.

 

Insiders have privately lamented that apparently strict control of the event for participants had not been matched by the same rigour afforded to the protesters.

 

A Brunswick woman, 21, was arrested without charge and police ejected a second person following the Christmas Eve demonstration.

 

The main antagonist, who displayed the Palestinian flag on stage, was backed by anti-Israel groups as part of a nationwide protest over the war in Gaza, which was started by the Gaza-based ­terrorist group Hamas.

 

Broadcast hosts at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl were silenced by chants of ‘Free Palestine’ and the woman grabbed the microphone and declared: “While you’re carolling kids are dying in Gaza.” The woman has been linked to the group Block the Dock, which is trying to disrupt ­Israeli shipping lines.

 

The anti-Israel protests are being backed by a series of groups which often have diverse interests including climate change, indigenous land rights and other left-wing causes.

 

An ACM spokesman said the debriefing process was still under way and declined to comment on whether the protesters were helped inside the concert.

 

“Everyone has the right to protest peacefully, but not at the expense of the safety of others,’’ the ACM said in a statement.

 

“The matter has been reported to and is being managed by Victoria Police and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

 

Police referred comment requests to the event organisers.

 

It comes after the nation’s biggest shopping centre was targeted by pro-Palestine activists on Boxing Day, staging a leaflet drop on one of the busiest days in the retail calendar. Some wore keffiyehs or masks that hid or partially concealed their faces at Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping Centre.

 

More pro-Palestinian marches will be held in Melbourne, which boasts the largest Jewish community in Australia.

 

Jewish leaders have warned that New Year’s Eve and Australia Day ­celebrations would be overrun by pro-Palestine activists, after the protesters who hijacked a the carols show while children were on stage faced no court charges.

 

Police arrested the 21-year-old woman who rushed the stage over the alleged concealment of a “controlled weapon”. She was handed a minor infringement notice over the weapon. Police have not detailed what the weapon was.

 

The incident unfolded in front of tens of thousands of people at the family-friendly event and many more watching the broadcast live from home.

 

The woman holding the Palestinian flag ran around the stage before attempting to wrestle a microphone off hosts David Campbell and Sarah Abo, who appeared bemused rather than upset by the confrontation.

 

Security staff on the stage moved quickly to resolve the situation but the review of the events is expected to include questions over how the protesters were not detected before the confrontation occurred. It has posed questions about why the intruders were allowed inside the perimeter.

 

Block the Dock said in a statement: “The activists are highlighting the genocide in Gaza as the Christian Palestinian community are unable to attend their places of worship this Christmas.”

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/carols-by-candlelight-protester-may-have-had-help-on-inside/news-story/db4f6335a51e555cf61d89963e9e5440

 

https://www.instagram.com/blockthedock/p/C1T5TJuxdfd/

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 2:22 a.m. No.20141992   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20033239 (pb)

>>20038459 (pb)

Wieambilla shooting: lawyers for Donald Day mount freedom-of-speech defence over alleged threats to police

 

Christopher Knaus - 28 Dec 2023

 

A US conspiracy theorist linked to the Wieambilla shooters has argued he was not seriously expressing an intent for violence when he said “the devils come for us, they fucking die”, and as such should be protected by the US constitution’s first amendment.

 

Donald Day Jr, a conspiracy theorist in Arizona, was recently arrested by FBI agents in connection with last year’s religiously motivated terrorist attack on a remote Queensland property in Wieambilla.

 

Day was in contact with Gareth and Stacey Train in the lead-up to the shootings, which killed two police officers and a neighbour, before the pair were shot dead, alongside Gareth’s brother Nathaniel, by police.

 

Court documents show Day is alleged to have posted a video on YouTube four days after the killings, saying:

 

“The devils come for us, they fucking die. It’s just that simple. We are free people, we are owned by no one.”

 

The comments were allegedly in response to a video posted by Gareth and Stacey during the standoff with police, in which they addressed Day directly, saying: “They came to kill us, and we killed them. If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward.”

 

Two indictments were issued against Day by a grand jury in Tucson, Arizona recently for interstate threats. Investigators allege Day’s video constituted “a threat to injure the person of another, that is any law enforcement individual who comes to Day’s residence”.

 

He is also separately accused of making threats toward Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization.

 

In a motion filed on Boxing Day, seen by Guardian Australia, Day’s lawyers sought to have the charges against him dismissed.

 

They argued that the statements Day allegedly made were not threats against a “person” as required under the statute. Their motion argues the group of persons allegedly threatened by the statement is too vague and ill-defined to constitute a “person”.

 

“It presumably includes not merely some unspecified number of federal, state, local, and even international law enforcement officials but would also include people who aren’t even police officers now but who may at some point in the future decide to become police officers such that they might someday have reason to go to Mr. Day’s house,” Day’s lawyers argued.

 

They also argued the indictment fails to allege a “true threat” to commit violence and Day is “therefore protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution”, which covers the right to free speech.

 

“Even accepting as true the indictment’s assertion that ‘devils’ is code for ‘police officers’ specifically, as opposed to ‘unlawful government actors’ in general, Mr. Day’s assertion that if ‘devils come [to kill] us,’ he would respond in kind cannot fairly be read as ‘a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence’.”

 

The motion is yet to be considered by the Arizona district court, where the case is being heard.

 

Queensland police told the media earlier this month that Gareth Train began following Day on YouTube around May 2020.

 

The Queensland police assistant commissioner, Cheryl Scanlon, said they began commenting on each other’s videos in 2021.

 

“We know that the offenders [Gareth and Stacey Train] executed a religiously motivated terrorist attack in Queensland,” she said. “They were motivated by Christian extremist ideology and subscribe to the Christian fundamentalist belief system known as premillennialism.

 

“The motivation of the United States national is still under investigation by the FBI.”

 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/28/wieambilla-shooting-terrorist-attack-donald-day-lawyers-freedom-of-speech-defence

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 2:35 a.m. No.20142014   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20114546

Yakult Australia targeted in cyber attack, employee files published on dark web

 

Kevin Nguyen - 28 December 2023

 

Iconic probiotic company Yakult Australia has been hit by a significant cyber attack that has seen its company records and sensitive employee documents, such as passports, published on the dark web.

 

Yakult Australia confirmed its Australian and New Zealand IT systems were impacted by a "cyber incident".

 

In a statement on its website, it said it was "working with cyber incident experts to investigate the extent of the incident".

 

"All our offices in Australia and New Zealand remain open and continue to operate," the statement read.

 

The company, which is based in Dandenong in Melbourne, declined to comment further, but ABC Investigations understands it is the victim of a ransomware attack — a type of cybercrime where hackers attempt to extort money from a company and will publish stolen files if it is not paid.

 

The group that has claimed responsibility for the breach is DragonForce, a threat actor which has listed nearly two dozen targets since the beginning of December that had "refused to cooperate".

 

Its targets range from a Texas-based family charity, to commercial entities including Coca-Cola in Singapore and a South Australian-based bathroom manufacturer.

 

In all instances, the group has published a cache of files of each of its victims.

 

These cybercriminals do not appear to be directly related to DragonForce Malaysia, a hacktivist group which has been targeting Israeli government agencies.

 

Copies of employee passports, drivers licences released by hackers

 

A sample of the 95 gigabytes of data leaked, analysed by ABC Investigations, found company records dating back to 2001.

 

The cache included sensitive employee information including scans of passports and drivers licences, pre-employment medical assessments and certificates, salaries, and performance reviews.

 

ABC Investigations has been able to determine at least one of the passport scans belongs to a warehouse employee. The ABC has also seen Japanese passports, where Yakult's parent company is based, in the leaked cache.

 

A separate database also contains the names and addresses of nearly 9,000 people. It is unclear if these are customer records, but the ABC has been able to verify the accuracy of at least some of the names and addresses.

 

Yakult Australia had become aware of the cyber attack on December 15.

 

Five days later, DragonForce listed the probiotic company as one of its victims before publishing the stolen cache on Christmas Day morning.

 

ABC Investigations has not independently verified each of DragonForce's published leaks.

 

The Australian Cyber Security Centre has been contacted for comment.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-28/yakult-australia-cyber-attack-dragonforce-files-dark-web/103269784

 

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/yakult-australia-confirms-cyber-incident-after-95-gb-data-leak/

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 2:36 a.m. No.20142018   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20114546

Yakult Australia targeted in cyber attack, employee files published on dark web

 

Kevin Nguyen - 28 December 2023

 

Iconic probiotic company Yakult Australia has been hit by a significant cyber attack that has seen its company records and sensitive employee documents, such as passports, published on the dark web.

 

Yakult Australia confirmed its Australian and New Zealand IT systems were impacted by a "cyber incident".

 

In a statement on its website, it said it was "working with cyber incident experts to investigate the extent of the incident".

 

"All our offices in Australia and New Zealand remain open and continue to operate," the statement read.

 

The company, which is based in Dandenong in Melbourne, declined to comment further, but ABC Investigations understands it is the victim of a ransomware attack — a type of cybercrime where hackers attempt to extort money from a company and will publish stolen files if it is not paid.

 

The group that has claimed responsibility for the breach is DragonForce, a threat actor which has listed nearly two dozen targets since the beginning of December that had "refused to cooperate".

 

Its targets range from a Texas-based family charity, to commercial entities including Coca-Cola in Singapore and a South Australian-based bathroom manufacturer.

 

In all instances, the group has published a cache of files of each of its victims.

 

These cybercriminals do not appear to be directly related to DragonForce Malaysia, a hacktivist group which has been targeting Israeli government agencies.

 

Copies of employee passports, drivers licences released by hackers

 

A sample of the 95 gigabytes of data leaked, analysed by ABC Investigations, found company records dating back to 2001.

 

The cache included sensitive employee information including scans of passports and drivers licences, pre-employment medical assessments and certificates, salaries, and performance reviews.

 

ABC Investigations has been able to determine at least one of the passport scans belongs to a warehouse employee. The ABC has also seen Japanese passports, where Yakult's parent company is based, in the leaked cache.

 

A separate database also contains the names and addresses of nearly 9,000 people. It is unclear if these are customer records, but the ABC has been able to verify the accuracy of at least some of the names and addresses.

 

Yakult Australia had become aware of the cyber attack on December 15.

 

Five days later, DragonForce listed the probiotic company as one of its victims before publishing the stolen cache on Christmas Day morning.

 

ABC Investigations has not independently verified each of DragonForce's published leaks.

 

The Australian Cyber Security Centre has been contacted for comment.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-28/yakult-australia-cyber-attack-dragonforce-files-dark-web/103269784

 

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/yakult-australia-confirms-cyber-incident-after-95-gb-data-leak/

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 2:48 a.m. No.20142046   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20098526

>>20136736

Aussie killed by Israeli strike ‘had no links with Hezbollah’, friends say

 

JOANNA PANAGOPOULOS - DECEMBER 28, 2023

 

Close friends of an Australian man killed in an Israeli airstrike alongside his brother – who was claimed as a martyr by Hezbollah – have rushed to defend him after his coffin was draped in the flag of the terror organisation.

 

Ibrahim Bazzi was described on Thursday as a friendly, hardworking construction worker, and friends said he never mentioned his sibling and had nothing to do with the militant group.

 

Ibrahim, 27, and brother Ali, 30, both confirmed to be Australian citizens, and Ibrahim’s wife, Shourouk Hammoud, were killed when a missile hit their two-storey house in the middle of the southern Lebanon town of Bint Jbeil.

 

In a statement following the deaths, Hezbollah declared Ali was one of its fighters.

 

“With greater pride … the Islamic Resistance celebrates the martyr Mujahid Ali Ahmed Bazzi ‘Qasim’ from the city of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, who rose as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem,” the group wrote on its official channels.

 

Early on Thursday (AEDT), a ceremonial funeral was held for all three members of the family, each casket adorned with Hezbollah flags and pictures of the three enlarged on a commemorative awning.

 

Friends of Ibrahim Bazzi said he travelled to Lebanon a week ago to visit his wife, who had just been granted a partner visa, and to bring her back to Sydney. While there, he planned to celebrate Christmas and the new year with his parents and had also scheduled Lasik surgery. “Nothing more, nothing less,” his friends said.

 

Friends of Ibrahim, known to them as “Bob”, painted a picture of a hardworking young man who was dedicated to building a better life for his wife and himself in Australia.

 

Ali Saab, who described himself as Ibrahim’s best mate, said he had dropped him off at the airport about a week ago for his flight.

 

“The last time I saw him was at the airport to say goodbye,” Mr Saab said.

 

“I hugged Bob for the first time (at the airport). Called him back, and said ‘I want to hug you again’.

 

“We never thought this was going to happen. He didn’t have anything to do with this conflict, what’s going on in the Middle East, in Lebanon. He was a hardworking man, saving up to get his wife to Australia, and start a new life.

 

“He was looking for a house in Camden or Denham Court. He said we were going to be neighbours.”

 

The pair grew up together in Bint Jbeil, before meeting by chance again in southern Sydney in 2020, when Ibrahim moved to Australia. Ibrahim’s father had Australian citizenship, Mr Saab said.

 

Despite growing up together, and living together in Rockdale for the past two years, Mr Saab said Ibrahim never spoke about his brother. “He didn’t have a strong bond with his brother. He never mentioned his brother. Even though we grew up together, I never interacted with him.”

 

Mr Saab said it “wasn’t fair” that Ibrahim was being lumped in with his brother as being part of Hezbollah. “I don’t know why they (the media) are putting Bob as Hezbollah, he used to work in asphalt and concrete. He had nothing to do with these people.”

 

Youssef Arbid, who worked with Ibrahim in civil construction, said he was a kind and joyful person who was “trying to build himself from scratch” in Australia.

 

He attached two posters of Ibrahim on his balcony, which read: “RIP / Ibrahim will always be in our hearts. 27/12/2023”.

 

“We were very close. I can’t believe such a sweetheart like Ibrahim is gone,” Mr Arbid said. “He’s too innocent to go through that.

 

“He never used to get involved with any politics or anything related to what’s happening. He was just working very hard, and wanted to put a deposit on a unit. I feel very sad … He never spoke about his brother. He was only thinking about putting a deposit down and getting his wife.

 

“He’s left a big gap, people are crying, young and old, it’s heartbreaking for all of us. We can’t believe it.”

 

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus refused to say whether the Australian government was aware of Ali Bazzi’s alleged connection to Hezbollah.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/aussie-killed-by-israeli-strike-had-no-links-with-hezbollah/news-story/44adbc18d821ecc50fc3a6436a962d1b

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 2:54 a.m. No.20142058   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2060

>>20098526

>>20136736

Hezbollah and Israel: Security agencies on martyr alert at home

 

GREG BROWN, JOANNA PANAGOPOULOS and ALEXI DEMETRIADI - DECEMBER 28, 2023

 

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Intelligence agencies are ramping up efforts to prevent local violent attacks inspired by the Middle East conflict, after an Australian man killed in Lebanon by an Israeli air strike was claimed to be a fighter and martyr for Hezbollah and given a military funeral by the terror group.

 

National security experts are warning there will likely be more Australians going overseas to join terror groups planning strikes on Israel, as the Albanese government was accused of being ­“completely out of match practice” in dealing with the threat from radicalisation.

 

Two Australians, 30-year-old Ali Bazzi and his 27-year-old brother Ibrahim, were killed in an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil. Hezbollah claimed through its social media platforms that Ali Bazzi was a fighter for the group that wants to eliminate Israel.

 

“With greater pride and pride, the Islamic Resistance celebrates the martyr Mujahid Ali Ahmed Bazzi ‘Qasim’ from the city of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, who rose as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem,” said a statement from the terrorist organisation.

 

Hezbollah did not claim Ibrahim Bazzi – whose Lebanon-based wife Shourouk Hammoud was also killed in the strike – was a fighter for the group and his Australian-based friends denied he held radical views.

 

Lebanese media reported that the three were killed when a two-storey building was struck by an ­Israeli warplane overnight on ­December 26.

 

Israel’s air force told local media that it had destroyed Hezbollah military installations and terrorist infrastructure.

 

Hezbollah is claiming across its social media platforms it organised a street march to honour all three killed in the strike. “(In attendance were) members (loyal to Hezbollah), Hassan Fadlallah and Hussein Jishi (both MPs), Hezbollah’s first Jabal Amel district official Abdullah Nasser, and a number of scholars, activists, figures, families of martyrs, and large crowds of people who flocked from various villages and towns,” a Hezbollah statement said.

 

Amid concerns Australians were being radicalised by anti-­Israel terror groups, Acting Home Affairs Minister Andrew Giles said the government was working with agencies to prevent violent attacks inspired by overseas events.

 

“Social cohesion is our most valuable national asset,” Mr Giles said. “Our government is working with our intelligence agencies to ensure that violence overseas does not precipitate violence in Australia.”

 

A spokeswoman for the Australian Federal Police said Australians travelling overseas to fight with a non-government armed group could be committing a criminal offence.

 

“The AFP remains alert to information or intelligence that indicates any individual or group’s propensity for, or movement towards violence,” the spokeswoman said.

 

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was unable to say whether ­either of the brothers was a member of Hezbollah. “We are aware of the announcement made by ­Hezbollah claiming links to one of the Australians killed. We are seeking to establish the facts,” Mr Dreyfus said. “Hezbollah is a listed terrorist organisation under Australian law.”

 

He said Australia had communicated with Israel following the air strike, but said he would not disclose what was discussed.

 

Mr Dreyfus urged Australians against travelling to Lebanon, where there was daily military activity. “For Australians in Lebanon, we urge you to leave while commercial options remain available,” he added.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 7dd017 Dec. 28, 2023, 2:56 a.m. No.20142060   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>20142058

 

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Friends of Ibrahim Bazzi say he left for Lebanon a week ago with the intention of bringing his wife back to Australia with him. He had been living in western Sydney since 2020. Ali Bazzi reportedly arrived in Lebanon three years ago. Both grew up in Lebanon and their father was an Australian citizen.

 

Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings said it was “highly likely” more Australians would go to Lebanon to fight for Hezbollah.

 

“That’s based on the numbers who travelled to fight in Syria with ISIS, the size of the domestic protests we’ve seen in Australia and the failure of the government and the police to crack down on any of it and say this is unacceptable behaviour,” Mr Jennings said. “There’s a radicalised community already here. There’s a larger feeder group who could be radicalised under the right conditions and there’s a high risk others will have gone overseas or are thinking about going.”

 

Mr Jennings said it was problematic Mr Dreyfus was unable to say whether Ali Bazzi was a member of Hezbollah.

 

He said the China threat was taking up too much of the attention of intelligence agencies.

 

“What these comments reveal is a government and a domestic security establishment that is completely out of match practice in dealing with (the) radicalisation threat,” he said.

 

Australian Strategic Policy Institute head of law enforcement John Coyne said there would be Australians “attracted to returning to Gaza, Lebanon or Israel to fight”. Dr Coyne said security-­enforcement agencies had extensive experience targeting those who sought to fight for ISIS and so were “capable of going through the same processes” now to stop people travelling to fight for Hamas or Hezbollah.

 

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said there should be no difference in the treatment of Australians supportive of Hezbollah as those who were involved with ISIS.

 

“Both are noted for the gruesome butchery of their tactics targeting civilians,” Mr Wertheim said. “They are the sworn enemies of individual freedom, democracy, human rights and the values which western civilisation holds dear. Australians who join or assist Hezbollah have effectively repudiated their allegiance to Australia and chosen instead to serve the interests of Hezbollah’s masters in the Iranian regime.”

 

Sydney-based Ali Saab was childhood friends with Ibrahim Bazzi and they lived together in Australia for the past two years.

 

He dropped Ibrahim Bazzi at the airport a week ago and said his friend was planning on spending two to three weeks in Lebanon before bringing his wife to Australia with him.

 

Mr Saab, who refers to his late friend as Bob, said he never spoke about his brother.

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/hezbollah-and-israel-security-agencies-on-martyr-alert-at-home/news-story/936469f8cf9b8b20de57a43b72866678