Category: Politics

Foreigners are flying to Australia while thousands of citizens remain stranded abroad

Australia, Business, General, Government, Main, Politics, Social Issues

Tens of thousands of Australian nationals are currently stuck overseas due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. Meanwhile, foreigners of a certain class are coming into Australia thanks to Canberra’s decision to grant travel exemptions to people with business innovation and investment visas.

To qualify for such a visa, a foreign national must be prepared to invest at least $800,000 in Australia. If they meet that requirement, they can enter the country the same way Australian citizens can—that is, by quarantining in a hotel for two weeks upon arrival. As the Australian Border Force explained,

“The business innovation and investment program targets migrants who have a demonstrated history of success or talent in innovation, investment and business, and are able to make a significant contribution to the national innovation system and the Australian economy.”

According to the Guardian, the ABF issued 485 business investment visas between March and September.

That’s not very many, and on its face it doesn’t seem like it would pose an issue for Australian citizens trying to get back home. But consider that travel restrictions stipulate that no more than 4000 people can arrive in Australia in a single week. As a result, most flights only contain a few dozen passengers. And as a result of that, airlines are jacking up the price of tickets to cover operational costs, while simultaneously catering to first-class travelers.

Testifying before a Senate inquiry, ABF head Michael Outram stated that roughly 25 percent of people traveling to Australia and quarantining in hotels are not citizens or permanent residents.

Opposition leader Penny Wong is now demanding that the Morrison government provide answers to stranded citizens and their families.

“There may be very legitimate reasons for some of these [non citizens] to enter the country, but these numbers show one person is being given the green light every day ahead of a stranded Australian who wants to come home,” Wong said, adding:

“Once again with Scott Morrison we see it’s one rule for a privileged few, while stranded Australians are left behind.”

I wouldn’t expect a candid response from Morrison and company any time soon.

16 year old Miami highschool student hacks school system

Big Data, Business, Communications, Data Management & Networks, Digital Systems Technology, Education, Government, North America, Politics, Regulation News, Software, Technology, Technology News

It’s every kids dream for school to be cancelled, but for many students 2020 has already been stressful enough. Students in Florida, USA however were shocked to find themselves locked out of their online classrooms come the first day of term this September. Having to adapt to new online learning environments already, students found themselves rightfully confused by their failed attempts for online access. 

So what happened?

Miami-Dade Schools’ online classes were brought down, a crash of the entire school system that saw students locked out of their online classes for the first three days back to school. Students and teachers alike however were taken a back to find out this was not the result of a complex hacking attack or situation: it was a 16 year student from the same school district. An unlikely teenager to carry out the attack, the result made national and international news headlines.

The 275,000 students in the school’s districts who tried to log on that morning found the system to be overloaded by data. The 16 year old junior in high school – who’s personal details have not been released – was called ‘polite’ and ‘intelligent’ by his neighbours. One neighbour, a Ben Herrera was quoted by the Miami Herald as saying: “He’s an awesome kid, […] What saddens me is how he’s going to be portrayed, and we’ve got to realize with this pandemic that kids are bored, isolated, stuck with too much time on their hands and maybe they do something irresponsible.” 
While neighbours might be showing sympathy for the boy, the school district is persuing their multiple charges of Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks. The boy claims his attack was constituted from a free and easily available free software download, which begs the question: why was the My School Online learning platform so vulnerable to an amateur attack?

The #FreeBritney movement has its day in court

Business, Internet of Things (IoT), North America, Politics, Social Issues, Social Media

For those not versed in some of the further stretches of celebrity internet blogs and conspiracy theory Reddit, you might not have heard of the Free Britney movement. The online and now IRL (in real life) activist movement started with the – now famous – hashtag: #FreeBritney, which really gained its current and growing momentum in April 2019. The hashtag, being spread across multiple different social media platforms, has gone on to gain notoriety, with lots more conspiracy theories surrounding the case and its content appear online. 

Overprotected: Britney Spears, A Life Story

The spiraling downfall of iconic pop star Britney Spears was spread internationally across headlines in the late 2000s. After glossing our TV screens and magazine pages with their youthful and sexy allure, screaming of new money and celebrity high life, the public relished in their front-row seat to Spears’ mental breakdown, via the everpresent lens of the paparazzi. Interest in the popstar’s downfall came in 2007 on February 16th, when Britney famously shaved her head in public. The controversial converatorship, which has seen Spears grant all rights to her father and have no control over her legal estate, or financial and personal assets, started subsequently in 2008. A conservatorship is said to be unusual in younger and more capable persons such as Spears. It is usually reserved for those more elderly, often with symptoms of dimentia, or those that are mentally ill and unable to make their own decisions. 

Stick me, baby? Not this time!
Whilst it is awful to think of the #FreeBritney movement’s proposition: that Spears’ father has taken Spears effectively an economic prisoner, there is a glimmer of hope around the corner. Britney has called for her future court proceedings to be made public, after the conservatorship was extended until February 2020. For Spears’ fans who care so deeply about her wellbeing, this is thankful news. For the wider growing audience of interested spectators, this is the latest development in Spears’ eternally public life.

Twitter intensifies effort to suppress QAnon, now one degree away from Aussie PM

Australia, Government, Main, Politics, Social Issues, Social Media, Technology, Technology News, USA

Twitter is broadening its crackdown on people who post content supportive of the “QAnon” movement. In case you’re not aware, QAnon folks believe that US President Donald Trump is locked into a covert power struggle with a bunch satanic pedophiles who control the world behind the scenes.

In other words, people like Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier who raped God knows how many children while hobnobbing with prominent people like Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and, funnily enough, Donald Trump, who has publicly embraced his QAnon followers. Epstein allegedly hanged himself last summer while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

In August it was reported that Twitter had banned over 7,000 QAnon-linked accounts.

“We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm,” the @TwitterSafety account posted 21 July. “In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called ‘QAnon’ activity across the service.”

This act of censorship led media outlets to question whether Twitter would apply the same standards to accounts held by elected officials or political candidates. There are apparently 15 QAnon supporters running for public office in the US this year—all Republicans, presumably.

Last week Twitter announced that elected officials who promulgate QAnon via their tweets will “will no longer be actively recommended by Twitter.” Which sounds like they’re not quite prepared to drop the ban hammer on politicians yet. Though it’s almost certainly just a matter of time.

QAnon isn’t confined to the US. Far from it. The movement is spreading around the world as if it’s being carried by Fast Courier Australia.

In fact, Twitter just shut down an account belonging to a close friend of our very own Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The Guardian identified him as Tim Stewart, whose wife was and might still be on Morrison’s staff. Twitter said Stewart was “permanently suspended for engaging in coordinated harmful activity.”

Stewart denies that he and Morrison have ever discussed QAnon together. What do you think?

Australian economy sees record contraction

Australia, China, Financial News, General, Main, Politics

Australia is now dealing with an economic recession due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the hospitality, tourism and service industries. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the country’s GDP declined by a whopping 7 percent during the June quarter, a new record. It follows a bad March quarter in which GDP fell by 0.3 percent.

“The global pandemic and associated containment policies led to a 7.0 per cent fall in GDP for the June quarter. This is, by a wide margin, the largest fall in quarterly GDP since records began in 1959,” said Michael Smedes, Head of National Accounts at the ABS.

He added that household spending is way down as people adjust to the ongoing lockdown measures:

“The June quarter saw a significant contraction in household spending on services as households altered their behaviour and restrictions were put in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus.”

Australia was already suffering from economic woes owing to the bushfires that ravaged much of the country throughout the second half of 2019 and into the early months of 2020. In addition to destroying 46 million acres of land and killing over a billion animals, the bushfires affected more than a quarter of Australian businesses. The tourism and fishing sectors were hit particularly hard.

Then, just as the fires began to die down, news of a deadly new virus out of China broke. Within months economies around the world were brought to a grinding halt, forcing people to hunker down in their adjustable beds.

“We have done everything possible to cushion the blow for the Australian community from Covid-19,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Wednesday. “Our priority has and will continue to be saving lives and ensuring that Australia’s healthcare system has the capacity to test and to trace and to treat coronavirus cases.”

Making matters worse is the economic row between Canberra and Beijing, which began when PM Morrison expressed support for an independent, international probe into how precisely the pandemic began. Beijing took exception to this and retaliated by slapping tariffs on barley imports and suspending other imports altogether.

At the moment, sex assault victims in Victoria can be fined or jailed for speaking out in public

Australia, Politics, Social Issues

The government of Victoria is reviewing a law passed early this year that requires victims of sexual assault to get a court’s permission before speaking publicly about the crime—and punishes them with a fine (up to $3304) or jail time (four months) if they don’t. In other words, unless they’re using an alias, victims need a court order if they want to, say, write a book about their experience, or give an interview on TV or radio.

Ironically, the law was intended to make it easier for victims to go public. At least, that’s what Victorian Attorney General Jill Hennessy says.

“The changes that took effect in February were about reducing barriers and improving clarity for victims who want to talk about their experiences, not about introducing new restrictions for survivors who want to go public with their story,” she wrote on Twitter.

“I am aware of the concerns raised by victims and advocacy groups regarding the effect of these reforms and have asked the Department of Justice and Community Safety to urgently look at whether further changes are needed to ensure they are effective.”

Many victims of sexual assault go on to experience emotional and psychological issues, necessitating help from a counselor or psychologist. The good news is that more and more mental health professionals are becoming NDIS registered providers.

Per CNN, another aim of the bill was to protect the identities of sexual assault victims who don’t want to go public with their stories—by making it a crime for other people to public share information that could result in the victim being outed.

While other states have similar laws on the books, they allow the victims to surrender their anonymity without facing any penalty. The Victoria law contains no such clause, which is why some people are referring to it as a “gag law.”

A campaign called #LetUsSpeak was initiated this week with the goal of amending the law.

According to a 2012 survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 17 percent of adult women and 4 percent of adult men have been sexually assaulted at least once since the age of 15. Women, children aged 10-14 years, and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples are the highest risk groups in Australia.

Contrary to Dr Trump’s opinion, the coronavirus will not just ‘disappear’

Politics, Science

One or more efficacious covid-19 vaccines will be necessary to defeat the current pandemic, in the view of a leading Australian virologist.

That virologist is one Professor William Rawlinson, who spoke about the need for a vaccine during an interview with Tracy Grimshaw on A Current Affair. He said scientists have had their noses to the grindstone all year, working round the clock to come up with a coronavirus vaccine.

“Population scientists and public health physicians and vaccine technologists have been working really since January, February this year to develop these,” Rawlinson said.

The speed with which the scientific community has progressed toward a vaccine is striking, especially considering that health experts were warning in the spring that a vaccine was likely 18 months away. Instead, it seems we’ll have one by the beginning of next year, possibly sooner.

Earlier this month it was reported that the UK government has committed to buying 340 million doses of six experimental vaccines. There is also a promising vaccine being developed by Oxford University that US President Donald Trump–who has repeatedly asserted that covid-19 will magically vanish one of these days–is reportedly considering giving an “emergency use authorization.”

A major factor allowing for this warp speed was the previous efforts to develop a vaccine for SARS, another type of coronavirus that shares characteristics with covid-19. Because SARS disappeared of its own volition, a vaccine was never completed. But valuable data was nevertheless produced during the early trials.

“That vaccine was never taken fully to a population,” Rawlinson explained. “There was some very good early information available from a number of what we call phase two studies and by the time they were planning for phase three studies there were no more cases.

“So really the reason for doing it died out which was great of course because SARS COVID-1, the original SARS disappeared. What that did allow us to have is a lot of information that then provided data that could be used for SARS COVID-2, so we actually got a bit of a head start.”

He went on to add that “it’s unlikely” that the covid-19 pandemic will go away without effectual vaccines.

Black Lives Matter protests come under scrutiny

China, General, Government, Health, Oceania, Politics, Social Issues

An Australian court has ruled against Black Lives Matter protesters’ request to appeal the decision that denied the permission for a protest scheduled on Tuesday 28th July 2020. The decision comes as Australia reported a record number of new cases per day, with the total number reaching over 500 for the first time since the virus was reported in the country in January 2020. 

In response to the decision to deny the appeal, David Elliott, New South Wales police minister, said: ‘I welcome the court of appeal’s decision to uphold the supreme court’s verdict on the authorisation of a protest planned for Tuesday 28 July.’ He went on to describe how the ‘NSW government urges both the organisers and anyone thinking of attending to stay away, abide by the law and seriously consider the consequences of their potential actions. A pandemic is no time to attend a mass gathering, no matter how honourable the cause.’ The decision is a controversial one as Black Lives Matter protests have begun around the world, with momentum behind the movement increasing after the death of George Floyd in the USA on 25 May 2020. Starting in Minneapolis, the protests have spread globally, with Aljazeera even creating an interactive map of the rally site locations. 
The July record high comes following numbers as low as 3 and 12 back in May and June. The last peak of record new cases per day came back in March, which saw 469 cases reported in one day likely because of high numbers of returning international travellers. The majority of new cases were found in Victoria, with others in New South Wales and one in Queensland. As of the 22nd July there were currently 214 in hospitals around Australia following an additional 31 people submitted since the 14th July. Over 20 of the patients are intensive care units on ventilators.

European Central Bank official rails against Facebook Libra

Europe, Financial News, Politics, Regulation News, Technology NewsNo Comments

Yves Mersch, executive board member of the European Central Bank, outlined on Monday a series of warnings concerning Facebook’s proposed blockchain digital currency Libra.

What is Libra?

Development of Libra began in 2017, and public reports first came to light the next year. Creators Morgan Beller, David Marcus, and Kevin Weil formally announced it this June. They also revealed its planned release in 2020.

Whereas Bitcoin and many other blockchain currencies are decentralized, relying on unaffiliated miners to maintain solvency and stability, Libra’s assets are centralized by the Libra Association. Guarantees of $10 million investments from each supporting partner—injected before Libra opens to the public—intend to stabilize the digital currency. Concerns with volatility significantly deter investment in blockchain currencies.

Libra’s expected 2020 release coincides with the release of a digital wallet, Calibra, that will allow payment through Messenger and WhatsApp. Similar messaging-app-integrated payment systems are hugely popular in China (WeChat Pay, AliPay) and Japan (LINE Pay). This market gap still exists in other parts of the world; apps such as Google Pay, Venmo, and Cash App do not integrate payment and SMS services. Investing partners include Mastercard, eBay, PayPal, and Uber, which should give a likely indication of Libra’s plans for market implementation.

Governments push back

The criticism from the ECB is both general and specific. 

Mersch expressed distrust in Facebook as a whole, reminding the public that Libra’s developers are:

“the very same people who had to explain themselves in front of legislators in the United States and the European Union on the threats to our democracies resulting from their handling of personal data on their social media platform.”

He also criticized its centralized, hefty investment-based structure:

“With such a setup, it is difficult to discern the foundational promises of decentralization…normally associated with cryptocurrencies and other digital currencies. On the contrary, similarly to public money, Libra will actually be highly centralized, with Facebook and its partners acting as quasi-sovereign issuers of currency.”

Be humble

Digital currencies have always been subject to criticism and regulation from governments; they disrupt traditional wealth distribution and storage. Libra also seeks to profit off market disruption, creating a currency privately regulated by the very companies that are selling you their products.

Libra has received criticisms and/or cease and desist requests from the United States, France, England, Germany, and Japan.

Trump, economists criticize Fed’s interest rates cut

Countries, Financial News, North America, Politics, Regions, Regulation News, USANo Comments

The Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point failed to pacify US President Donald Trump, who has routinely hit out at Fed chair Jerome H. Powell for keeping rates too high. The federal funds target rate range is now 2% to 2.25%.

“As usual, Powell let us down, but at least he is ending quantitative tightening, which shouldn’t have started in the first place – no inflation,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “We are winning anyway, but I am certainly not getting much help from the Federal Reserve!”

Trump went on to say that he would like to see further and more aggressive rate cutting going forward.

“What the Market wanted to hear from Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve was that this was the beginning of a lengthy and aggressive rate-cutting cycle which would keep pace with China, The European Union and other countries around the world.”

But Trump was not the only one critical of the cut. Two Fed officials also disagreed with the decision, albeit for different reasons.

CNBC reports that Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Kansas City Fed President Esther George—who had both expressed misgivings about a potential rate cut—both voted against the measure, arguing that rates ought to remain unchanged.

“Given that the economy is quite strong, given that I do think that inflation is going to be very close to 2%, and given that the growth in the economy is satisfactory, I think that’s an environment where you don’t have to take a lot of action,” Rosengren told CNBC.

Others were critical as well. Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank, slammed the rate cut as an “unwise decision,” arguing that “The Fed’s decision today is like in the days when doctors bled their patients to heal them.”

He added that, in his view, the Fed “manufactur[ed] reasons to cut interest rates despite a strong economy with no recession signs apparent anywhere out on the horizon.”

The decrease was the first since 2008, when the Fed hacked rates down to almost zero percent in the midst of massive economic fallout caused by the US subprime mortgage crisis.