Kangaroos mowed down in sick Australian hit-and-run spree - New York Post

About 20 kangaroos were mowed down in an apparent hit-and-run spree in Australia over the weekend, local police said.

The lifeless marsupials were found sprawled on the road in rural Tura Beach, on the south coast of the state of New South Wales, around 10:15 a.m. Sunday, police said in a statement.

Local officials believe someone intentionally ran over the animals — including adults and joeys — between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m. Saturday in a residential part of town.

The kangaroos were likely struck by a white vehicle with mounted spotlights, local outlet 7 News reported.

“So the ‘roos would have stood there stunned and then they just ran them down,” Janine Green, a veteran volunteer with Australia’s Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service, told the outlet.

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Police woke Green around 1 a.m. Sunday and gave her a surviving Joey to care for.

“Until you see it, you can’t grasp the reality of it,” Green said of the heartbreaking scene.

People had been out drinking and watching soccer the night before, she told the outlet.

“I was very sad that someone would have such low self-esteem they would think this would make them a hero,” Green added. “What fun could there be in this carnage, how could it make a person happy?”

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https://nypost.com/2019/09/30/kangaroos-mowed-down-in-sick-australian-hit-and-run-spree/

2019-09-30 11:45:00Z
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Metallica cancel Australia, New Zealand tour as Hetfield enters rehab - Reuters

FILE PHOTO: James Hetfield, lead vocalist of the heavy metal group Metallica performs during their World Magnetic tour concert in Abu Dhabi October 25, 2011. REUTERS/Jumana El Heloueh/File Photo

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - American heavy metal band Metallica has canceled its upcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand, saying that lead singer and guitarist James Hetfield has been admitted into an addiction treatment program.

Hetfield’s fellow band members, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo, issued a joint statement on the band’s Instagram account stating they were “devastated” by the decision.

“We fully intend to make our way to your part of the world as soon as health and schedule permit,” the statement said.

Metallica were due to play their first Australian show on Oct. 17. The band’s Australian touring company, Live Nation, said tickets to the shows would be refunded and alternative tour dates were being discussed.

Reporting by Will Ziebell; Editing by Kim Coghill

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-metallica-tour/metallica-cancel-australia-new-zealand-tour-as-hetfield-enters-rehab-idUSKBN1WD046

2019-09-28 04:25:00Z
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Australia abortion laws: Terminations now legal in New South Wales - BBC News

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Abortion has been decriminalised across Australia after the last remaining state where it was illegal, New South Wales (NSW), voted to reform its laws.

The bill, passed on Thursday, overturns a 119-year-old law which had been criticised by opponents as archaic.

The legislation had generated weeks of heated debate and deeply divided the state's conservative government.

Previously, abortions were possible in NSW only if a doctor deemed there was "serious risk" to a woman's health.

The legislation was passed 26-14 in the state's lower house after discussions about more than 100 possible amendments. It has already been approved by the upper house.

The law makes it legal for terminations to be conducted up to 22 weeks into a woman's pregnancy - or later if two doctors agree.

The reform had been strongly opposed by some activists and MPs who raised objections due to their personal beliefs, as well as concerns about late-term abortions.

But last-minute amendments ultimately persuaded some conservative MPs, and the bill drew support from other parties.

"The current law has meant women and doctors have a threat of 10 years in jail for making this decision and that's not okay," said Labor MP Penny Sharpe, one of the bill's co-sponsors.

"This is a massive step forward for women in this state."

You might also be interested in:

• Abortion law in Northern Ireland to change
• Q&A: Abortion law in the UK

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49834734

2019-09-26 08:31:07Z
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Australia abortion laws: Terminations now legal in New South Wales - BBC News

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Abortion has been decriminalised across Australia after the last remaining state where it was illegal, New South Wales (NSW), voted to reform its laws.

The bill, passed on Thursday, overturns a 119-year-old law which had been criticised by opponents as archaic.

The legislation had generated weeks of heated debate and deeply divided the state's conservative government.

Previously, abortions were possible in NSW only if a doctor deemed there was "serious risk" to a woman's health.

The legislation was passed 26-14 in the state's lower house after discussions about more than 100 possible amendments. It has already been approved by the upper house.

The law makes it legal for terminations to be conducted up to 22 weeks into a woman's pregnancy - or later if two doctors agree.

The reform had been strongly opposed by some activists and MPs who raised objections due to their personal beliefs, as well as concerns about late-term abortions.

But last-minute amendments ultimately persuaded some conservative MPs, and the bill drew support from other parties.

"The current law has meant women and doctors have a threat of 10 years in jail for making this decision and that's not okay," said Labor MP Penny Sharpe, one of the bill's co-sponsors.

"This is a massive step forward for women in this state."

You might also be interested in:

• Abortion law in Northern Ireland to change
• Q&A: Abortion law in the UK

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49834734

2019-09-26 07:17:36Z
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In a First for Australia, the Capital Legalizes Recreational Marijuana - The New York Times

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1. In a First for Australia, the Capital Legalizes Recreational Marijuana  The New York Times
2. Australian Capital Territory legalises personal cannabis use  BBC News
3. Canberra becomes the first city in Australia to legalize marijuana  CNN
4. Australian Capital Territory votes to legalise cannabis for personal use  The Guardian
5. Australia's capital city legalizes marijuana  CNBC
6. View full coverage on Google News

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/world/australia/marijuana-cannabis-recreational-legal.html

2019-09-25 09:35:00Z
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Australian Capital Territory legalises personal cannabis use - BBC News

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has become the first jurisdiction in the nation to legalise recreational cannabis use.

Lawmakers in the territory passed a landmark bill on Wednesday allowing adults to possess up to 50 grams of the drug and to grow four plants at home.

Personal cannabis use remains prohibited elsewhere in Australia, but medicinal use was legalised in 2016.

The territory's law could be overturned if challenged at a federal level.

Recreational cannabis use is legal in countries including Canada, Spain, Uruguay, and several US states including California.

About 35% of Australians aged over 14 have used the drug in their lifetime, health authorities say.

The ACT has almost 400,000 residents and comprises the city of Canberra and surrounding areas.

Under its legislation - to come into effect on 31 January - it will remain illegal to sell cannabis and to consume it in public or around children.

Supporters say the law aims to reduce risk and stigma for users of the drug, while opponents argue it could introduce more people to harmful drug-taking.

Because it is not a state, the ACT is more vulnerable to its laws being overturned by the federal government. This happened in 2013, for instance, when its decision to legalise same-sex marriage was reversed.

Lawmakers who sponsored the bill on Wednesday said they were "very confident" that it would not be challenged by federal politicians.

However, they acknowledged that there were additional legal uncertainties.

"This does not entirely remove the risk of people being arrested under [federal] law, and we are being up front with the community about that," Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay said in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

New Zealand is due to hold a referendum next year on whether it should legalise the drug.

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2019-09-25 08:15:44Z
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Australian Capital Territory legalises personal cannabis use - BBC News

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has become the first jurisdiction in the nation to legalise recreational cannabis use.

Lawmakers in the territory passed a landmark bill on Wednesday allowing adults to possess up to 50 grams of the drug and to grow four plants at home.

Personal cannabis use remains prohibited elsewhere in Australia, but medicinal use was legalised in 2016.

The territory's law could be overturned if challenged at a federal level.

Recreational cannabis use is legal in countries including Canada, Spain, Uruguay, and several US states including California.

About 35% of Australians aged over 14 have used the drug in their lifetime, health authorities say.

The ACT has almost 400,000 residents and comprises the city of Canberra and surrounding areas.

Under its legislation - to come into effect on 31 January - it will remain illegal to sell cannabis and to consume it in public or around children.

Supporters say the law aims to reduce risk and stigma for users of the drug, while opponents argue it could introduce more people to harmful drug-taking.

Because it is not a state, the ACT is more vulnerable to its laws being overturned by the federal government. This happened in 2013, for instance, when its decision to legalise same-sex marriage was reversed.

Lawmakers who sponsored the bill on Wednesday said they were "very confident" that it would not be challenged by federal politicians.

However, they acknowledged that there were additional legal uncertainties.

"This does not entirely remove the risk of people being arrested under [federal] law, and we are being up front with the community about that," Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay said in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

New Zealand is due to hold a referendum next year on whether it should legalise the drug.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49820735

2019-09-25 08:00:54Z
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Australia's Gladys Liu scandal shows how the Chinese Communist Party is weaponizing race - CNN

In May 2019, Gladys Liu from the Victorian seat of Chisholm became the first female Chinese-Australian elected to sit in the Australian Lower House of Parliament. That was a significant milestone and not before time given there are approximately 1.2 million citizens with Chinese ancestry in a nation of 25 million. What was then a celebration of progress with respect to ethnic diversity amongst the ranks of politicians has descended into controversy.

Over the past month, it was revealed that Liu was previously associated with Australia-based organizations with alleged ties to the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Known as an effective fund raiser for her Liberal Party, there are also questions about the links of those donors to Beijing, which Liu allegedly tapped for money.

Liu has strenuously denied any association with the Chinese government, saying she would always put "Australia's interests first," and said she would audit local organizations which had listed her as a member without her permission.

Australia is at the forefront of calling out and passing legislation against covert influence and foreign interference activities by Chinese operatives. The United Front, which is supported by considerable resources and a vast bureaucratic operation, was called one of his "magical weapons" by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2014. One of the objectives is to co-opt ethnic Chinese individuals and organizations in foreign countries or else silence dissent.

Unlike the former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari who was forced to resign in December 2017, there is no evidence Liu has opposed government policy nor colluded with foreign entities against Australian authorities in return for financial largesse from donors allegedly linked to the United Front. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has strongly backed Liu and indicated there were no adverse findings against her made public by Australian intelligence agencies.

Regardless of how this plays out for Liu, the deeply uncomfortable issue for pluralistic democratic societies of the link between race and allegiance has been pulled into the spotlight.

Are Australian citizens of Chinese origin less supportive of Australian interests and values? Will this question be asked of large ethnic Chinese diasporas in countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and New Zealand? One should expect that an increasing number of ethnic Chinese citizens will seek to win office in their respective countries. Might the controversy surrounding Liu dissuade them from doing so -- to our collectively detriment -- and how to ensure that does not occur?

As awkward as it is, there is no escaping that race and ethnicity has become a legitimate political and national security issue and we need to be frank and upfront about the cause.

It is occurring primarily because the Communist Party has chosen to politicize and even weaponize race as a tool of foreign policy and subversion.

Xi has delivered multiple speeches and made it formal policy to demand loyalty and commitment from diasporas who the Party refers to as the "sons and daughters" of China. The United Front is the apparatus of choice. This implies one's identity and loyalty are not defined by nationality but race or ethnicity.

In Australia, the majority of Chinese-language press are owned by entities with at least partial links to Beijing. The problem is compounded by the reality that social media platforms used by Chinese-Australians such as WeChat and Weibo are already moderated and censored. Some Australian-based Chinese community organizations have either been set-up specifically to influence the diaspora while existing ones are targets for influence and infiltration through financial incentives or else intimidation. The result is that many of these organizations now parrot Communist Party views on sensitive issues such as the South China Sea and Taiwan.

As in all liberal democracies, Australians of every ethnicity should feel free to hold and express their legitimate views without fear of censure or consequences. The point is not to tell the Chinese diaspora what they should think -- it is to protect them against foreign governments telling them what they must think.

Members of Chinese community organizations in the West and the population at large both need to have the assurance that these organizations are not front entities for Beijing or have been otherwise infiltrated to support the Communist Party's agenda. If that assurance is lacking, all members will inevitably and unfairly be tainted simply by association. That will only lead to the fracturing of multicultural societies.

If Chinese diasporas are to feel respected and valued in Australia and other countries, and if more ethnic Chinese citizens are to be encouraged to run for political office, the countering of Beijing's United Front operations needs to be taken seriously. That is the source of the divide in the first place. Legislation prohibiting such activities ought to be passed. There needs to be transparency in media ownership. Politicians, community leaders and individuals must be given the space and support to call out external attempts to covertly influence, silence or intimidate.

Most of all, the perceived link between race on the one hand and one's loyalty and views on the other, must be broken. In Australia's case, failure to do so could mean that Liu is the first and last Chinese-born Australian to enter federal politics in the country -- with ramifications in other democracies.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/23/opinions/gladys-liu-china-australia-opinion-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-09-24 05:20:00Z
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Australia Is Using New Technology to Catch Drivers on Phones - TIME

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https://time.com/5683862/australia-technology-drivers-driving-phones/

2019-09-23 09:43:41Z
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Donald Trump hosts Australia PM at the White House - BBC News

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is only the second leader to receive a state dinner under President Trump. What does this visit have in store for the Aussies?

James Glenday from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation explains all you need to know.

Edited by Chloe Kim

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https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-49730164/donald-trump-hosts-australia-pm-at-the-white-house

2019-09-20 09:23:21Z
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Donald Trump hosts Australia PM at the White House - BBC News

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is only the second leader to receive a state dinner under President Trump. What does this visit have in store for the Aussies?

James Glenday from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation explains all you need to know.

Edited by Chloe Kim

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2019-09-20 05:43:04Z
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Australia’s Toughest Question: How Close Is Too Close to China? - The New York Times

SYDNEY, Australia — It was an extraordinary question for a member of Australia’s Parliament to be asked on live television: Are you a spokeswoman for the Chinese Communist Party?

“The simple answer,” the lawmaker, Gladys Liu, responded, “is no.”

But little else was simple about the interview that Ms. Liu — Australia’s first Chinese-born member of Parliament — gave last week to respond to reports of her not-long-ago membership in groups linked to the Communist Party.

Her fumbled answers, and the outcry that followed, have exposed the country’s struggle to integrate a growing community of immigrants from China who have tended to be overlooked by the political system except as a source of cash.

Two forces are now colliding: Australia’s ethnic Chinese community is increasing in size and power just as the country is becoming more skeptical of its economic dependence on China and raising alarms about Chinese influence in Australian institutions.

Countries around the world are grappling with how to handle China’s sweeping ambitions, but the challenges are especially pronounced in Australia.

“The Gladys Liu controversy is a warning that Australia, like many nations, needs more maturity in its China debate,” said Rory Medcalf, the head of the National Security College at the Australian National University.

“The real fault lies in the long complacency of Australia’s political class,” he said, adding that as the country’s “major political parties saw nothing wrong with treating Chinese communities as cash cows,” the Chinese Communist Party’s “pervasive intelligence and interference apparatus saw Australia as a place of great opportunity.”

The tensions are particularly acute in Australia, where there are more than one million people of Chinese descent. Chinese have been coming to Australia for two centuries, but significant numbers of ethnic Chinese migrants began arriving after the end of the White Australia Policy in the early 1970s. While most were once migrants from Hong Kong and Taiwan, the number of immigrants from mainland China has been soaring for more than a decade.

In a reflection of the sheer heft and reach of China, many Chinese-Australians straddle two worlds, with financial success sometimes dependent on ties to the mainland. Given this reality, and the nationalist pressure Beijing exerts on what it calls “overseas Chinese,” a question is increasingly being imposed on the country’s Chinese immigrants: Can you prove your loyalty to this country? Or, put another way: How close to China is too close?

That was the backdrop to the interview that Ms. Liu, who rose in politics on the strength of her fund-raising and networking in the Chinese community, gave on Sky News to Andrew Bolt, a conservative commentator.

It was seen almost universally as disastrous. Ms. Liu said she could not recall her long membership in local Chinese organizations connected to the Communist Party’s foreign influence efforts. She had difficulty articulating a position on Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea, or even on the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, where she was born. Critics said she appeared to weigh her words so as not to offend Beijing.

Her political opponents called on her to declare her allegiance to Australia, where she has lived since the 1980s, and asked intelligence agencies to look closer at any links she might have to the Chinese government. The leader of her conservative party, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, branded these demands racist — a claim echoed by the Chinese government.

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The leader of Ms. Liu’s conservative party, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, branded the demands for her to declare her loyalty to Australia as racist.CreditTracey Nearmy/Getty Images

Public opinion is also divided. Some Australians worry that the country is casting suspicion on an entire ethnic group and demonizing a first-term lawmaker whose association with Chinese organizations may have had less to do with ideology than with the potential for wealth and power. Others believe that Ms. Liu’s case raises legitimate worries over sovereignty and national security.

Many experts say these are the kinds of questions Australia has spent far too long avoiding as China’s hunger for natural resources and university degrees helped fuel a generation of uninterrupted Australian economic growth.

“It’s only in the last two years that Australia has spoken about the downside of China’s rise. The last 15 years we spoke only of the upside,” said John Lee, a onetime adviser to the former foreign minister Julie Bishop, who is now at the United States Studies Center in Sydney.

Last year, Australia passed laws against foreign interference that require anyone lobbying on behalf of another country to enroll in a national register. Two years ago, Sam Dastyari, a politician in the left-leaning Labor Party, quit the Senate amid allegations that a Chinese billionaire paid his legal bills, and that he pushed his party to change its position on the disputed waters of the South China Sea to match China’s posture.

The Australian federal government has also taken some steps to distance itself from Beijing, like declining to sign on to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, turning away Chinese bids to build national electricity or gas pipeline grids, and banning Chinese tech giants from installing 5G wireless networks.

But after years of vocal China boosterism, Australia’s leaders have said little to the public about why they have taken these steps. They have instead issued vague statements, for instance accusing “sophisticated state actors” of carrying out intrusions like the cyberattack on Parliament this year.

On Monday, Reuters reported that the country’s intelligence agencies had concluded that China was behind that attack, but that government officials had recommended keeping the finding secret to avoid hurting trade ties.

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Ms. Liu was elected to Parliament in May, representing a district in suburban Melbourne. She is Australia’s first Chinese-born member of Parliament.CreditWilliam West/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The government’s ambivalence and lack of transparency has discouraged open public debate, experts say, leading to oversimplified arguments and conspiratorial rumors.

“I think the intelligence agencies should release more information about what they know, because unless they do that, it’s up to the imagination of the population what the Chinese do and don’t do,” Mr. Lee said. “Having been in government, I know what the Chinese do, but I think it should be released so the public can be critical and not overreact.”

But until that happens, Mr. Lee said, the debate about China will continue to falter, and the impact on Chinese-Australians, especially those with political aspirations, will only grow.

“It could go the way we fear, which is Chinese-Australians feel that everything they do is under suspicion, purely because they hang around Chinese groups or are part of Chinese organizations,” he said.

Clive Hamilton, whose book on Chinese Communist Party interference in Australia was published after three other publishers pulled out over fears of angering Beijing, said that work over decades by the party to infiltrate Chinese organizations in Australia had now “poisoned the well” for future politicians of Chinese origin.

“Almost all Chinese organizations and Chinese media are now dominated by people sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “That means that the candidates of Chinese ethnicity who are put forward in the political process and work their way up through the system are likely to be those trusted by Beijing.”

Damien Cave contributed reporting.

Want more Australia coverage and discussion? Sign up for the weekly Australia Letter, start your day with your local Morning Briefing and join us in our Facebook group.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/world/australia/gladys-liu-china.html

2019-09-19 06:24:00Z
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Australian hiker rescued after crawling with broken leg for two days - CNN International

Neil Parker, 54, was hiking on Mount Nebo, northwest of Brisbane, on Sunday when he tumbled six meters from the top of a waterfall, fracturing his leg and wrist.

Parker splinted his shattered leg with hiking sticks before crawling for two days to find a clearing, where he hoped he would be spotted by emergency services.

"I had to carry my leg, and it was very heavy," he told reporters from a hospital bed on Wednesday. "I had a bandage on my elbow so I could use my elbow and scrambling, lifting, inch by inch."

The seasoned hiker said that he had to move slowly because of the immense pain. "I was constantly struggling... I got about a meter and a half each time each time before I had to stop and take a break," he said.

For two days, he barely slept but drank water from a creek and had some food supplies. The weather at Mount Nebo was largely clear during his ordeal, with daytime temperatures around 31 degrees Celsius, (87.8 Fahrenheit) falling to as low as 6 degrees (42.8F) overnight.

Parker said thoughts of his family kept him going -- no one knew where he was and he worried that in the dense bush he would never be found.

"I was getting very emotional thinking it's not a nice way to die laying here waiting, waiting. I just thought I'd hope to go to sleep and I wouldn't wake up again."

A rescue helicopter eventually saw him on Tuesday afternoon. Tied to a stretcher, he was winched on board and flown to a hospital for treatment, the Queensland Government Air Service posted on Facebook.

"(The) first thing I thought of (when rescued) is I'm not going to die out here, I'm going to live and it's all through what I've been trained to do, what I've learned and the experience people have given me that made a difference."

An experienced guide

Parker is an experienced guide with the Brisbane Bushwalkers Club, which promotes hiking in the Australian state of Queensland.

Stephen Simpson, who heads the club, told CNN that Parker had been a "trained leader" with the club for seven years. He said that Parker was "very capable and competent," but did not follow club guidelines when he ventured to the mountain by himself on Sunday.

"Normally, we recommend walking with a minimum of four people," Simpson said, as that would allow the team to have enough people to stay with the injured person while also seeking outside help.

Parker said he had only intended to go out for three hours to assess the walk -- he had no idea it would turn into two days.

Simpson said as soon as the club heard that one of its members was missing it arranged a search party in the mountain. "The fact that he has been found alive after 48 hours -- which is a long time -- is worth celebrating," he added.

Simpson advised future hikers that they should always inform someone where they plan to go, and carry navigation equipment to reduce the risk of getting lost.

Lying on a hospital bed, Parker agreed that hikers should avoid the mistake of going hiking alone.

"Preparation is the key, knowing and understanding what the terrain is," Parker said. "But there are sporting activities you should never do by yourself."

"Simply don't go alone."

CNN's Hilary Whiteman contributed to this report

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/18/australia/australian-hiker-rescue-two-days-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-09-18 08:36:00Z
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Aussie hiker with ‘snapped’ leg makes two day crawl to safety - Malay Mail

This handout photo received from Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane on September 18, 2019 shows Neil Parker, 54, an Australian bushwalker talking to the media from his hospital bed after he tumbled down a waterfall, snapping his leg in two, and managing to crawl for two arduous days though scrub and forest to safety. — Princess Alexandra Hospital Media and Communications/AFP pic

SYDNEY, Sept 18 — An Australian bushwalker who tumbled down a waterfall, snapping his leg in two, told today how he managed to crawl for two arduous days though scrub and forest to safety.

Neil Parker, 54, said his planned three-hour hike northwest of Brisbane went horribly wrong Sunday when he slipped six metres down the waterfall, fracturing his leg and wrist.

“I cartwheeled and slammed into the rock and then landed in the creek at the bottom,” he told reporters from his hospital bed.

The experienced hiker said the entire bottom half of his leg was hanging loose thanks to a “clean snap in half”.

“Straight away, I thought, ‘I’m now in a lot of trouble because no-one knows where I am’.”

He immediately tried to phone for help but after dropping his mobile “into the drink”, started crawling back to a clearing where he believed he would have a better chance of being rescued.

Efforts to attach a makeshift splint to the badly injured leg were ultimately successful, but caused pain so great he hallucinated, Parker said.

With just a “handful of nuts, a protein bar and some lollies” to sustain him, Parker began the excruciating three-kilometre journey, “scrambling and lifting, inch-by-inch” to the clearing.

“What took me 40 minutes to walk up took me nearly two days to crawl back down,” he said.

He saw a search-and-rescue helicopter flying overhead Sunday night, but knew there was no chance of them finding him as he was “deep under the scrub”.

Parker was eventually spotted by the helicopter and winched out yesterday afternoon.

Parker — who founded a bushwalking club and has helped rescue other stranded hikers in the past — said knowledge had been instrumental to his survival, as he had set out well prepared with items such as bandages, a compass, and even a sleeping bag.

But it was the thought of his family, including his estranged son, that pushed him to keep going during a mentally taxing experience.

“The family connection, to let them know that I’m OK, just kept driving me,” he said, adding that he would now be reunited with his son after several years of distance between them.

“I wanted to be around for my kids.” — AFP

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https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2019/09/18/aussie-hiker-with-snapped-leg-makes-two-day-crawl-to-safety/1791658

2019-09-18 02:39:54Z
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Qantas CEO Was Australia's Highest Paid Executive - One Mile at a Time

Executive compensation is an especially contentious topic in the US, though it seems we’re not alone.

Qantas CEO Was Australia’s Highest Paid Executive

There’s now widespread coverage around compensation for executives in Australia during the 2018 fiscal year, with Australia’s highest paid executive being Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.

He took home nearly 24 million AUD, making him the highest paid ASX100 CEO. His 23,876,351 AUD in compensation just barely beat out Macquarie Group’s CEO earning 23,855,580 AUD.

To me that’s pretty remarkable. While airline CEOs are generally well paid, I can’t think of another situation where an airline executive was the top paid executive in the entire country.

As a point of comparison, the previous year Joyce earned “only” ~11.2 million AUD, making him the eighth best paid executive in the country.

So, how did he earn so much, and how did his pay jump that much? His base pay was just over 2 million AUD, and a large part of that compensation came in the form of the increased stock value.

It’s pointed out that Qantas’ value increased from 2.5 billion AUD to 10 billion AUD during that period, and the share price increased by about 350%.

While there will be strong opinions on both sides for executive compensation, we can all agree that’s a period during which Qantas did really well. To what extent the CEO should be rewarded for that (rather than employees) is something that’s up for debate.

Comparing That To Another CEO

In my opinion what’s much worse is when CEOs at airlines get compensated well for poor performance. I’m not thinking of any airline in particular, but theoretically:

• Imagine if you ran an airline where the stock price started the year at $52.33 and ended the year at $32.09
• Imagine earning pre-tax profits of $1.9 billion, or $2.8 billion excluding net special items, when you promised that your airline would earn a minimum of $3 billion in profits in a bad year
• Imagine still earning $12 million, and being the second highest paid airline executive in the US

Like I said, this is all theoretical. 😉

What do you guys think — is Alan Joyce’ nearly 24 million AUD in compensation well deserved, or excessive?

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https://onemileatatime.com/qantas-ceo-highest-paid/

2019-09-17 12:29:12Z
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Two companies to square off for Australia's $10 billion infantry fighting vehicle program - DefenseNews.com

MELBOURNE, Australia – The Australian government has selected Hanwha and Rheinmetall to participate in the next phase of its A$15 billion (U.S. $10.3 billion) infantry fighting vehicle program, being delivered under Project Land 400 Phase 3.

Hanwha’s AS21 Redback IFV, a variant of the South Korean Army’s K21 vehicle, and Rheinmetall’s Lynx KF41 will now progress to a 12-month risk mitigation activity program later this year, which will test the vehicles under operational conditions.

Land 400 Phase 3 (Mounted Close Combat Capability) will acquire up to 450 tracked IFVs to replace the Australian Army’s ageing M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers. A decision on which tenderer will progress to the acquisition phase of the program will be presented to government for consideration in 2022.

“The two companies have been assessed as offering vehicles that are best able to meet the requirements of the Army while offering value for money for defense,” Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said at the Sept. 16 announcement.

The announcement reduces the field from four to two, with BAE Systems (CV90) and General Dynamics Land Systems (Ajax) now eliminated from the competition.

Phase 3 of the overarching Land 400 program follows on from the A$5.2 billion (U.S. $3.6 billion) Phase 2, under which Rheinmetall is delivering 211 Boxer wheeled 8x8 combat reconnaissance vehicles to replace the Australian Army’s light armored vehicles.

Rheinmetall is assembling all but the first 25 Boxers at its recently established Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence at Ipswich, west of Brisbane. Local industry participation will be a key requirement for Land 400 Phase 3.

“Australian industry involvement and Australian workers are vital to this project,” Price said. “Phase 3 is another important opportunity for Australian industry to deliver leading edge technology for the ADF.”

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Rheinmetall has indicated it will assemble the Lynx in its Ipswich facility and Hanwha announced on May 23 that it had teamed with EOS Group and Elbit Systems to develop the AS21 and build it in Geelong, south of Melbourne.

Hanwha and Rheinmetall are also the prime contenders for the Australian Army’s recently revitalized Land 8116 program, which will acquire 30 self-propelled howitzers, together with support vehicles and systems.

Hanwha is proposing a local version of its K9 Thunder 155mm SPH, dubbed Aussie Thunder, which the company said in May would be assembled in Geelong irrespective of the Land 400 Phase 3 outcome. Rheinmetall is expected to offer a solution based on its PzH 2000 vehicle.

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https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2019/09/17/two-companies-to-square-off-for-australias-10-billion-fighting-vehicle-program/

2019-09-17 03:02:07Z
CBMiigFodHRwczovL3d3dy5kZWZlbnNlbmV3cy5jb20vZ2xvYmFsL2FzaWEtcGFjaWZpYy8yMDE5LzA5LzE3L3R3by1jb21wYW5pZXMtdG8tc3F1YXJlLW9mZi1mb3ItYXVzdHJhbGlhcy0xMC1iaWxsaW9uLWZpZ2h0aW5nLXZlaGljbGUtcHJvZ3JhbS_SAQA

Two companies to square off for Australia's $10 billion infantry fighting vehicle program - DefenseNews.com

MELBOURNE, Australia – The Australian government has selected Hanwha and Rheinmetall to participate in the next phase of its A$15 billion (U.S. $10.3 billion) infantry fighting vehicle program, being delivered under Project Land 400 Phase 3.

Hanwha’s AS21 Redback IFV, a variant of the South Korean Army’s K21 vehicle, and Rheinmetall’s Lynx KF41 will now progress to a 12-month risk mitigation activity program later this year, which will test the vehicles under operational conditions.

Land 400 Phase 3 (Mounted Close Combat Capability) will acquire up to 450 tracked IFVs to replace the Australian Army’s ageing M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers. A decision on which tenderer will progress to the acquisition phase of the program will be presented to government for consideration in 2022.

“The two companies have been assessed as offering vehicles that are best able to meet the requirements of the Army while offering value for money for defense,” Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said at the Sept. 16 announcement.

The announcement reduces the field from four to two, with BAE Systems (CV90) and General Dynamics Land Systems (Ajax) now eliminated from the competition.

Phase 3 of the overarching Land 400 program follows on from the A$5.2 billion (U.S. $3.6 billion) Phase 2, under which Rheinmetall is delivering 211 Boxer wheeled 8x8 combat reconnaissance vehicles to replace the Australian Army’s light armored vehicles.

Rheinmetall is assembling all but the first 25 Boxers at its recently established Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence at Ipswich, west of Brisbane. Local industry participation will be a key requirement for Land 400 Phase 3.

“Australian industry involvement and Australian workers are vital to this project,” Price said. “Phase 3 is another important opportunity for Australian industry to deliver leading edge technology for the ADF.”

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Rheinmetall has indicated it will assemble the Lynx in its Ipswich facility and Hanwha announced on May 23 that it had teamed with EOS Group and Elbit Systems to develop the AS21 and build it in Geelong, south of Melbourne.

Hanwha and Rheinmetall are also the prime contenders for the Australian Army’s recently revitalized Land 8116 program, which will acquire 30 self-propelled howitzers, together with support vehicles and systems.

Hanwha is proposing a local version of its K9 Thunder 155mm SPH, dubbed Aussie Thunder, which the company said in May would be assembled in Geelong irrespective of the Land 400 Phase 3 outcome. Rheinmetall is expected to offer a solution based on its PzH 2000 vehicle.

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https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2019/09/17/two-companies-to-square-off-for-australias-10-billion-fighting-vehicle-program/

2019-09-17 03:01:25Z
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Bushfires continue to burn across east Australia - Aljazeera.com

Firefighters continued to battle about 50 bushfires across Queensland on Sunday.

Crews from the states of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and from New Zealand were helping fight blazes that have destroyed homes, businesses and an estimated 55,000 hectares (135, 908 acres) of land.

The 10-day emergency has seen some 1,200 bushfires burning across the state, with more than 600 community warnings issued in the past two weeks. Officials have warned some fires could burn for months because the ground is bone-dry and there is no significant rain in sight.

Meanwhile, fire conditions eased over the weekend in northern New South Wales, as the winds dropped, prompting the Rural Fire Service (RFS) to downgrade its warning to an advice level.

The RFS said firefighters took advantage of cooler conditions to undertake backburning around the state. With warmer and windier conditions expected in the coming week, it is imperative the firefighting crews take advantage of any break in the weather.

Before the warm-up that is expected this week, rain will move across much of New South Wales on Monday into Tuesday and bring moister, cooler air across the region.

However, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has warned the fire danger remains high throughout Queensland.

"It's going to be very warm through southern Queensland on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday," said meteorologist Sam Campbell, late on Saturday. "Unfortunately, the hot, dry weather is set to continue."

Firefighters are most concerned about the Sarabah fire in the Gold Coast hinterland. It is the biggest of the bushfires currently burning and authorities are expecting it to burn for days.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk visited burned-out properties in the Gold Coast hinterland community of Beachmont on Sunday.

"Some people here have lost their worldly possessions but they haven't lost their lives," she said. "They'll be able to rebuild, and we'll help them rebuild."

She asked Queenslanders to give generously to a bushfire appeal to support those who lost everything.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/bushfires-continue-burn-east-australia-190915092121208.html

2019-09-15 10:14:00Z
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Tourists Disrespected A Sacred Landmark In Australia. Now, It’s Closing To The Public - Refinery29

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park has decided to close Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, off to climbers permanently, National Geographic reports. The unanimous vote by the park’s board rights “a historic wrong,” according to the Central Land Council, which represents Aboriginal people in central Australia. 

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https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/09/8413896/australia-bans-climbers-uluru-ayers-rock-aboriginal-sacred-site

2019-09-14 20:15:00Z
CAIiEI_VeXllDaQqm3rZtsXhGVsqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowqOXeCjDQ5dYBMJ3T0QM

Australia names academic held in Iran for almost a year - CNN

Moore-Gilbert is one of three Australian citizens detained in Iran, according to the government. The other two Australians were previously identified as Jolie Ellen King and Mark Firkin.

News of the arrests came amid tensions between Iran and United States and its allies, including Australia and the UK.

Since the decision by US President Donald Trump in 2018 to abandon the Iran nuclear deal, Washington has attempted to use what it calls "maximum pressure" to change Iran's behavior and limit its nuclear ambitions.

Earlier this year, tensions between the US and Iran soared to levels that prompted fears of a conflict. Oil prices jumped as investors feared that attacks on oil tankers risked a disruption of shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, which passes by Iran and is the most important place on the planet to the global supply of oil.

Last month, Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the country's defense force would work alongside the US and the United Kingdom on a maritime security mission in the Strait of Hormuz.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs urged Australian citizens and holders of dual nationality with Australia who are traveling to or through Iran to follow the government's latest travel advice, which is to "reconsider your need to travel," due to "the risk that foreigners, including Australians, could be arbitrarily detained or arrested."

Moore-Gilbert's family said they have been in close contact with the Australian government.

"We believe that the best chance of securing Kylie's safe return is through diplomatic channels," the family said in a statement released through the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, asking for privacy.

Moore-Gilbert is a fellow and lecturer in Islamic Studies focusing on politics in the Arab Gulf states, according to her biography on the University of Melbourne's website.

According to the university's website, Moore-Gilbert graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2013, and completed her PhD at University of Melbourne in 2017. A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to CNN that Moore-Gilbert is a British-Australian dual citizen and said the Australian government was taking the lead on securing her release.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/14/middleeast/iran-australian-academic-kylie-moore-gilbert-intl/index.html

2019-09-14 10:35:00Z
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The Indigenous Man Who Declared His Own Country - The New York Times

MILLN REEF, Australia — Murrumu of Walubara and his son, Thoyo of Walubara, paddled in the clear waters of the Great Barrier Reef, among corals of electric purple and burnt orange, trumpetfish, sea cucumbers and giant clams.

They were 35 miles off the coast of Australia — or, as Mr. Walubara says, what most people refer to as Australia.

To him and his followers, the Great Barrier Reef is a part of the Yidinji Territory, a self-declared nation spanning more than 6,000 square miles in the northeastern part of the continent, which Mr. Walubara formed in 2014, but to which he says sovereignty was never ceded.

Five years ago, after realizing that as an Indigenous man he was not recognized by Australia’s Constitution, Mr. Walubara quit his job as a political reporter and renounced his Australian citizenship and former name, Jeremy Geia. He returned his passport, public health care documents and driver’s license to their respective government departments, he says, and destroyed his Australian bank cards.

“I had assumed that I had true and correct membership inside the Commonwealth of Australia,” Mr. Walubara, who is now 45, recounted writing in the accompanying letters to each government department. “I have made a mistake: I’m no longer eligible for the benefits of your society,” he wrote. “Here are your instruments back.”

While experts say that Mr. Walubara has a long road ahead before Australia would recognize his claims to sovereignty, his argument has caught the attention of the public and the national news media. It also bears political weight in a country that has yet to recognize Indigenous Australians in its Constitution or to make a treaty with the marginalized population, who have long sought a voice in Parliament.

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Mr. Walubara at his home in Cairns, Australia. He is the minister of foreign affairs of the Yidinji Territory, a self-proclaimed Indigenous nation.CreditBrook Mitchell for The New York Times

Now, with the recent re-election of a conservative Australian government that has promised a referendum on the issue of constitutional recognition, Mr. Walubara, who is the Yidinji Territory’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, is again pressuring federal leaders to make a treaty with the Sovereign Yidinji Government. A not-for-profit entity, it has a cabinet of 10 ministers and, so far, close to 100 citizens (most of whom have both Australian and Yidinji citizenship).

Being recognized within a Commonwealth framework, Mr. Walubara says, is insufficient. Treaties with sovereign Indigenous governments are the only appropriate remedy, he says, for the exclusion and pain inflicted on generations of Indigenous people, who are thought to have inhabited Australia for at least 65,000 years before being displaced and in some cases massacred after the British arrived in the late 1700s.

“We’re not going away, and we don’t want the Commonwealth of Australia to go away. However, it is on our territory,” Mr. Walubara said.

His government doesn’t want compensation, he said, but for Australia to recognize the Yidinji Territory as an official entity, and the right to maintain a police force and an army.

“That’s as simple as it is — it’s just paperwork,” Mr. Walubara said. “This is the absolute remedy.”

Mr. Walubara was born in 1974 in Cairns, in Australia’s north, to an Aboriginal mother and Croatian Jewish father. He sought answers for his feelings of displacement traveling through dozens of countries including Cuba (he immersed himself in Communism) and Mexico, and, eventually, in journalism, where he believed he could hold the powerful to account.

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Mr. Walubara’s Yidinji Nation identification documents.CreditBrook Mitchell for The New York Times

He spent two decades as a reporter, in 2012 conducting one of the first interviews with Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London and rising up the ranks of the Australian news media to become a political reporter in Canberra, the nation’s capital. There, he says, he grew frustrated both with the repetitive stories about Indigenous Australians’ high incarceration and suicide rates and the childish antics of the country’s politicians.

“I thought people deserved better than this, and if Indigenous people were pinning their hopes to that kind of leadership, then good luck,” Mr. Walubara said.

It was at that time that he began to fully comprehend his own exclusion from the Constitution and began researching what it would take to move toward a treaty between Australia and its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“I realized that they weren’t going to do it,” he said of Australia’s leaders, “so I had to.”

Friends were surprised, but mostly respected Mr. Walubara’s decision to leave his job.

“He gave away a very strong career,” said Mark Davis, a former colleague. But “he’s a man of his own principles” he added. “I think it’s remarkable, and history will vindicate him. Most people don’t give him the seriousness that he’s due.”

Now, Mr. Walubara survives mainly on the good will of the supporters of his mission. He lives on the ground floor of a friend’s home in Cairns with his son, 11, and wife, who is also an activist.

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Mr. Walubara, center left, and fellow leaders of the Yidinji Territory at a weekly meeting. He hopes to sign a treaty with the Australian government.CreditBrook Mitchell for The New York Times

He is not registered under his current name for Australian services, including health care, which caused worry and frustration when, during a recent health scare, he refused to identify himself to a hospital’s staff as anything other than a Yidinji man, Mr. Davis recalled.

In 2015, Mr. Walubara was arrested over driving with Yidinji-issued license plates. He has since stopped using them in an effort to establish a working relationship with federal government ministers.

But at every other opportunity, Mr. Walubara pokes at assumptions of Australian sovereignty and land ownership in the region where he lives: “It’s just a truth that’s unfamiliar to you,” he tells people who don’t follow his line of thinking.

On a day in early August, friends had organized for Mr. Walubara to take Thoyo on a trip to the reef for his birthday. Onboard, he spoke with tourists from India, Austria and the separatist Spanish region of Catalonia, questioning some about their rights to work in or visit Australia, and confounding others with his mission.

“See, the Catalonians get it,” he beamed.

From Mr. Walubara’s point of view, his mission is simple: The Sovereign Yidinji Government wants recognition but is content for Australia to police and conduct other administrative functions on its territory, and to represent its interests at the United Nations, so long as Yidinji ministers have a final say on environmental issues, for example, and the capacity to fund projects including a school and university, which he says would provide better outcomes for Aboriginal youth.

The ministers argue that in signing on to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Australia has already committed to allowing them to self-govern and receive restitution.

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Mr. Walubara says the Great Barrier Reef is part of the Yidinji Territory, not Australia.CreditBrook Mitchell for The New York Times

While some experts said that the United Nations’ declaration might support Mr. Walubara’s position, making a treaty possible in theory, they consider it unlikely that the Australian government will to come to the negotiating table in the near future.

Anne Twomey, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sydney, said that it was important that Mr. Walubara’s claim is for political sovereignty, as opposed to legal sovereignty.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart — a road map for recognition created by representatives of various Indigenous groups in 2017 — described this kind of political sovereignty, she added, and individual states in Australia have taken steps toward creating treaties, but none have been ratified.

A “limited degree of political control or recognition” might well be possible for the Yidinji Territory, Ms. Twomey said, should the Australian government choose to confer it.

Mr. Walubara does have his critics. Some insist he is merely an attention seeker, while others say that despite good intentions, he has achieved little in the five years since renouncing his Australian citizenship.

But others describe him as a bold leader carving a path for future generations.

“He’s one of the great elders of this land,” said Isaac Cassady, 19, who lives in Cairns and identifies as being of Yidinji descent.

“It’s not about guilt tripping people or blaming people,” he added of Mr. Walubara’s mission. “It’s about working together to recognize, respect and move on.”

For Mr. Walubara, the road ahead may be lonely and fraught, but he remains convinced that a treaty will occur in his lifetime. Looking at other struggles around the world, he said he had come to appreciate that there was no shortcut to healing the wounds of history.

“The peaceful way is the best way,” he said, “even if it is the longest.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/world/australia/indigenous-walubara-yidinji.html

2019-09-13 09:10:00Z
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