Police should ‘throw the book’ at anyone breaching coronavirus restrictions, says Berejiklian
US blacklists subsidiaries of Covid-19 test provider Beijing Genomics Institute
You may remember that Australia has taken hold of an extraordinary amount Covid-19 tests from a major Chinese genomics company, the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI).
A BGI subsidiary, Forensic Genomics International, has previously been named by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute as having links to a massive “DNA dragnet” operation targeting the persecuted Uighur minority. The company has stridently denied participating in any such program.
On Monday, the US government announced it was blacklisting two BGI subsidiaries, Xinjiang Silk Road BGI and Beijing Liuhe BGI, meaning they will face new restrictions on accessing US technology and commodities.
The department of commerce said it was taking action against the subsidiaries in connection with the conducting of “genetic analyses used to further the repression of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities” in Xinjiang.
Australia is taking 10m BGI Covid-19 tests from BGI. The tests were procured by mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest and his philanthropic arm the Minderoo Foundation, acting on behalf of the Australian government at the beginning of the pandemic. Minderoo and Forrest made no profit from the deal. The two blacklisted BGI subsidiaries have no involvement in providing the Covid-19 tests to Australia.
In a statement to the New York Times, BGI said it was “puzzled” by the US government decision.
It said it was unclear how either subsidiary could have had been involved in the alleged conduct, because one had conducted no business since being established in 2016, and the other provided commercial gene synthesis for scientists conducting basic and unrelated research.
“BGI Group does not condone and would never be involved in any human rights abuses,” it said in a statement.
Updated
at 9.09pm EDT
Questioning in the sports grants hearing has established Phil Gaetjens did not consider whether Bridget McKenzie had legal authority to give sports grants.
Labor senator Katy Gallagher noted the ministerial standards require ministers to act lawfully; while Greens senator Janet Rice also noted ministers can’t encourage a breach of law by others — so it should have been considered in the inquiry.
Gaetjens said he looked at the program guidelines which said the minister was the final decision-maker, but he did not consider the legal status of decisions because the prime minister had asked the attorney general to consider that point.
It was separately addressed. I saw no need for a non-lawyer to provide advice on that issue.
Gaetjens said he didn’t have a view on the ANAO’s finding that it was “not evident” what McKenzie’s authority was — because it was “not in my purview or competence to answer that”.
Earlier much of the focus was on an analysis PMC conducted of the outcomes of the community sport infrastructure grant program.
It found:
- 32% of proposed projects in marginal or target seats were ultimately approved, compared with 36% in other electorates
- 180 marginal or targeted projects were recommended by Sport Australia, and 229 were ultimately approved by the minister, representing a 27% increase, but the number of projects funded in non-marginal non-target seats also increased from 325 to 451, or 39%.
Stephanie Foster, the PMC deputy secretary of governance, said this analysis was the basis of the conclusion that PMC “couldn’t find the evidence” that McKenzie was unduly impacted by a seat’s marginal or targeted status.
When Labor senators suggested the analysis only looked at successful but not unsuccessful applicants and he had not considered the “process” by which projects were selected.
Gaetjens defended the exercise:
I will not accept that the analysis was partial or limited. It is arithmetic and mathematics – not process – that is shown in these outcomes.
Labor senator, Katy Gallagher, noted the PMC analysis looked at the number of recipients, not the amount of money given out, suggesting this was the basis of the difference of opinion with the ANAO.
Updated
at 8.47pm EDT
Federal court dismisses case to protect Gomeroi sacred sites from the Shenhua coal mine
The Federal Court has dismissed a case which sought to challenge the lawfulness of a decision by the federal Environment Minister, Sussan Ley not to grant protection to several significant areas of Aboriginal cultural heritage within the footprint of the approved Shenhua Watermark open cut coal mine on the Liverpool Plains in northwest NSW.
Gomeroi custodian Dolly Talbot was suing the Environment Minister in the Federal Court, alleging Ley made an error of law in deciding not to make a declaration to protect the Aboriginal heritage.
Federal Court judge Wendy Abraham dismissed the application this morning but the full decision is yet to be released. Judge Abraham ordered the Environmental Defender’s office, which is representing Talbot and the Gomeroi traditional owners, to pay costs of $1000.
Under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage protection act, the environment Minister has the power to protect areas of cultural heritage if she is satisfied they are significant areas that are under threat of injury or desecration.
Ley acknowledged that the sites “retain immeasurable cultural values and connection to country” and “are of particular significance to Aboriginal people” but said the mine’s potential economic and social benefits outweighed their heritage value.
The significant areas include sacred places and significant ceremonial corridors, large grinding groove sites, scarred trees and artefacts Gomeroi people consider sacred and irreplaceable.
