Australian News

(I originally posted this in c/Australia, but I realised this is essentially just another take on an ABC article that was posted a week ago so moved it here)

She directly addressed Albanese: "I ask our prime minister and our fellow parliamentarians, how many international rights laws must Israel break for us to say enough? What is the magic number? How many mass graves need to be uncovered before we say enough? How many images of bloody limbs of murdered children must we see?"

Payman called on her colleagues to "stand up for what is right" and said Australia should impose sanctions, engage in divestments, stop trade with Israel, and call for a permanent ceasefire.

Complete bullshit. Regimes that punish whistleblowers harder than war criminals reveal themselves as dreaming of tyranny.

The entire trial was cooked, and I'm furious :(

That non parole period is nuts too, pure revenge. What danger does this man represent? If he's out on the streets some war criminals better watch their backs?

edit: I should add, it's also quite frustrating that at the end of all this top brass has had no light shone on them, which was his initial goal on leaking. He thought the SAS was being investigated overmuch as a distraction from leadership failures. I guess we'll never know. A slap on the wrist for the executioners, no systematic investigation, and an inconvenient man in gaol.

Fucking finally, but it's disappointing it isn't more.

Student debts will be lowered for more than three million Australians under reforms designed to stop HECS loans growing faster than wages.

Loan indexation will now match whichever is lower out of the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Price Index — which the government says will prevent another shock increase like last year's 7.1 per cent increase.

The changes will be introduced in the 2024 budget and, pending getting through parliament, will take effect from June.

• In short: The federal government has committed $160 million to implement a national firearms register after state and territory leaders agreed to the idea last year.
• The register will be a central hub of data from each state and territory, allowing near real-time information sharing across the country.
• What's next? States and territories now need to reform their firearms management systems, with the aim to have the register fully operational within four years.

QLD Premier Steven Miles said the attack gives "added weight" to the argument to expand police stop and search powers.

Jack's Law lets Queensland police search people without a warrant on public transport, at public transport stations and in safe night precincts.

Mr Miles said legislation expanding Jack's Law to include shopping centres will be introduced to parliament "very soon".

Australia's first locally made orbital rocket is poised to blast off from a small north Queensland town next month.

The 23-metre rocket has been lifted into the vertical position for the first time.

Gilmour Space is waiting for launch approval from the Australian Space Agency.

• In short: Australia's Defence department has refused to publicly release a copy of the deal struck with Israel on defence industry cooperation because it "could harm Australia's international standing and reputation".
• The Israeli government was also consulted about whether to release the document, the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has revealed.
• What's next? Greens senator David Shoebridge has argued the Australian public has a right to know about Australia's military trade relationship with Israel.

• In short: Federation University plans to make 12 per cent of its workforce redundant by September.

• The National Tertiary Education Union has called on the institution's leaders to resign and says it will fight the staff cuts.

• What's next? The university says it is consulting with staff about redundancy plans.

• In short: A resident said she heard an "almighty roar" as a waterspout made its way through a street in Green Point on Friday night.
• The Bureau of Meteorology says waterspouts usually "die off fairly quickly" when they make landfall, but this one became something akin to a tornado.
• What's next? Clean-up efforts continue as residents assess damage to trees, fences and backyard equipment.

• In short: Prominent businesswoman and gender equality advocate Samantha Mostyn AO will become Australia's 28th governor-general.
  Ms Mostyn is the current chair of the federal government's Women's Economic Equality Taskforce and has previously served in a range of roles, including as an AFL commissioner.
  What's next? She will be sworn in on July 1, replacing David Hurley, who has served since 2019.

• In short: Tech giant Uber is being sued by rival taxi app GoCatch, who claim the ridesharing company used underhanded tactics to gain an edge more than a decade ago.
• Internal Uber emails reveal the company obtained the phone numbers of rival drivers and attempted to hire them.
• What's next? The trial is expected to run for 10 weeks and Uber has indicated it will "vigorously" defend itself against GoCatch's claims.

• In short: Officials in Gaza say an air strike killed five people, including four aid workers working with the World Central Kitchen charity one of whom was Australian Zomi Frankcom.
• Local medical officials say the group's car was hit by an Israeli strike after it crossed into the area from northern Gaza, where they had helped to deliver aid.
• What's next: Israel's defence force says it is conducting a thorough review and the Australian prime minister says he wants to see "accountability".

Staff warned that language in the national broadcaster’s coverage ‘favoured the Israeli narrative over objective reporting’.

Staff at Australia’s national broadcaster warned that its coverage of the war in Gaza relied too much on Israeli sources and used language that “favoured the Israeli narrative over objective reporting”, internal communications reveal, shedding new light on bias claims that convulsed the outlet.

In a summary of a meeting on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)’s coverage of the war, staff detailed concerns that coverage displayed pro-Israel bias, such as by accepting “Israeli facts and figures with no ifs or buts” while questioning Palestinian viewpoints and avoiding the word “Palestine” itself.

The three-page summary, which Al Jazeera obtained via a freedom of information request with the ABC, is undated, but its contents correspond with a meeting of 200 staff that was held in November to address concerns about the broadcaster’s coverage.

While the broad thrust of concerns aired at the meeting was reported by Australian media in November, the document contains extensive detail about staff’s complaints and previously unpublicised examples of alleged pro-Israeli bias.

...

A tourist visa is the only way in for hundreds of Palestinians seeking refuge, leaving them forced to rely on overwhelmed community organisations

Sanmati Verma, the managing lawyer at Human Rights Law Centre, says the Albanese government has “failed to open humanitarian pathways from Gaza” by establishing a specific visa – and, at the same time, Palestinians have not received help with settlement or legal support after arriving in Australia.

“This is in marked distinction to the support that is rightly extended to the survivors of war and devastation in other parts of the [world], including Ukraine,” Verma says.

In the first five months of Russia’s war on Ukraine, 11,500 Ukrainian arrivals to Australia had access to a three-year humanitarian visa granting Medicare, work and study rights. On 31 July 2022 the Albanese government closed the scheme.

Afghan evacuees and Ukrainian arrivals were also eligible for the humanitarian support program, funded by the Department of Home Affairs, to help them integrate into Australian life. This gave access to orientation services, English language lessons, temporary housing assistance and legal services.

Nina Field, the manager of humanitarian services at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, says a special visa category should be opened for Palestinians as soon as possible – “just as has been the situation with any other significant conflict”. In the meantime, Roumeliotis hopes an emergency support package will be announced.