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Christopher Knaus

Muslim advocacy groups furious at watchdog clearing Asio of impropriety

Australian Muslim advocacy groups are furious at a decision by the intelligence watchdog clearing Asio of impropriety after it pre-emptively described a Muslim man with mental health issues as a radicalised terrorist.

In November, the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (Aman) lodged a formal complaint to the inspector general of intelligence and security (IGIS) over Asio’s response to the case of Raghe Abdi, who murdered a couple in their Brisbane home in 2020.

Abdi was later shot dead by police.

An inquest, yet to be held, will explore the circumstances of Abdi’s death, his severe mental illness, and any motive for his actions.

Last year, Asio director general Mike Burgess declared Abdi to be “a radicalised ISIL supporter”.

The comments prompted Aman to complain that “there has never been any judicial finding or acceptance of the allegation that Raghe Abdi was a radicalised ISIL supporter, nor has the Queensland Police alleged or stated this”.

Their complaint said:

Mr. Burgess has used the Mr. Abdi matter to substantiate an argument that ‘religiously-motivated’ terrorism remains a deadly and active threat to Australia. Cumulatively, the impacts of this coverage contribute to exceptionally high levels of anti-Muslim sentiment and the strength of right-wing nationalist movements.

Two weeks ago, the intelligence watchdog responded to say it could find no issues of impropriety.

In this case, I can confirm that the Acting Inspector-General has carefully considered the matters you raised that are within the Inspector-General’s jurisdiction; and after examining a range of materials relating to your complaint, the Acting Inspector-General did not find errors of legality or propriety in relation to the actions of either the Director-General of Security or ASIO.

The Aman is now calling for Asio and government ministers to wait for trials or coronial inquests before declaring an incident to be a “terrorist incident”. Such an approach, it said, would uphold the conventions of procedural fairness. In a statement, it said:

Every terrorism incident counted or declared involving a Muslim person has a very significant impact on the Muslim community as we face collective blame and retribution in the form of hate speech and hate incidents.

The tally also shapes public discourse and public perceptions of threat levels and sources. The implication of the IGIS response is that Australia has no baseline requirements before ASIO can count something as a terrorism incident.

First home-buyer loans dropping markedly

NSW government announces plan to open blue carbon market

From AAP:

NSW is taking a deep dive into the potential of aquatic measures to help cut carbon emissions in its latest strategy to tackle the climate crisis.

Blue carbon ecosystems, which include seagrass, mangroves and saltmarsh, can store four times more carbon than land-based forests in the same area.

State environment minister, James Griffin, has announced a new five-year strategy to open up a blue carbon market in the state.

He says marine ecosystems can capture and store carbon while also improving foreshore protection, water quality, biodiversity and fisheries.

The strategy will help unlock investment in blue carbon projects through carbon credits and other mechanisms that will ultimately benefit the state’s economy and environment, and build resilience to the climate crisis.

“The simplest way to understand blue carbon is to liken it to underwater forests – just as trees store carbon, marine and coastal plants and ecosystems do too, except even more efficiently,” Griffin said on Thursday.

“We have more than 2000kms of NSW coastline and surrounding areas that could support the storage of additional blue carbon, which would significantly contribute to our goal of reducing carbon emissions,” he said.

Reports Queensland government to ‘transition away’ from managing Covid with public health directions

Carbon capture and storage ‘simply won’t work’, says thinktank

AAP reports:

Pumping carbon under the sea from gas rigs or storing it underground “simply won’t work” as a climate solution, an independent energy researcher warns.

In a report released on Thursday, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis examined 13 of the world’s flagship carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects.

More than half of them underperformed, two failed and one was mothballed, report author Bruce Robertson said.

“CCS technology has been going for 50 years and many projects have failed and continued to fail, with only a handful working,” he said.

The Gorgon project off the coast of WA – Australia’s only operating CCS system and one of the world’s largest – underperformed by about 50% over its first five-year period, according to the case study.

Chevron Australia’s Gorgon liquefied natural gas operations takes carbon from offshore gas reservoirs and injects it into sandstone beneath Barrow Island, off WA.

Falling short of state government-mandated performance targets, Chevron Australia buys carbon credits to offset emissions and comply with its WA licence to operate.

Paul Karp

Union boss lambasts Peter Dutton for missing jobs summit

The national secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining Maritime and Energy Union, Christy Cain, has given the Liberal leader Peter Dutton a sledge for skipping the jobs summit, and probably armed him with his best material for arguing it is a union talk-fest.

Cain said:

It is our time, the employers and the government to come together. Regardless of what I think of the Liberal government … there’s a saying ‘if you’re not at the table, you’re part of the menu’. Well, Mr Dutton you’re not here – and you’ve had plenty to say about me and my union, but you couldn’t even come and evaluate how we should go forward.

Earlier, Cain reminded Anthony Albanese that he had committed to support construction of an independent fleet to secure Australia’s fuel supplies and to close “loopholes in the regulatory framework to rebuild Australian shipping with Australian crews on board, on Australian conditions of employment”.

Cain said it was an “absolute disgrace” that the crew of the MV Portland had been replaced by “third world exploited labour for $2 an hour”.

He said:

We demand that [the government] provide immediate funding and better workforce planning to overcome drastic seafarers shortage. We’re an island nation, thousands of vessels visit our ports each day.

Most wouldn’t realise – that there is no Australians on them vessels, trading around this coast. If I were to say to you very clearly as an example, the nursing industry, if you were to drop 100 Chinese, exploited Chinese nurses in the middle of Melbourne, and pay them $2 an hour. There would be an uproar. There is uproar among seafarers.

Cain said he backed ACTU secretary Sally McManus “totally” in the push for higher wages. He cited inflation on its way to 8%, fuel up “astronomically” and stagnant wage growth.

He concluded:

Our time is now to put that right … Join a union! Be proud to be in a union.

NT judge says antiracism becoming ‘a religion or a cult’

Hello everyone, a big thanks to Natasha for taking us through the morning.

It’s been a big day and there is more to come – let’s get into it. First up I have this story from Lorena Allam:

A Northern Territory supreme court judge has said antiracism is a “religion or a cult” and the fear of being called a racist is preventing people from “speaking honestly” about violence against Aboriginal women.

Natasha May

Thanks for your attention today, I’m now handing the blog over to the wonderful Cait Kelly!

University of Sydney students protest Malcolm Turnbull’s speaking on campus

Students at the University of Sydney have protested former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull speaking at an event run by the university law society.

Honi Soit, the University of Sydney’s student publication, is reporting that the event has been moved online after student protests.

Protesters accused the former coalition government of being a damaging force in higher education according to Honi Soit.

Police cleared attendees out of the venue where the event was due to take place and barricaded the entrance, Honi Soit reported.

Peter Hannam

Winter was wetter and warmer than average, data shows

The end of August means the end of winter, and a chance to look back at the weather that was.

Rainfall wise, we had another above-average month for rain (or snow), the Bureau of Meteorology said.

NSW was one of the standout regions, with the state reporting an average of almost 57mm of rain. Since 2000, only 2003 and 2016 posted more for August.

Winter was also marginally wetter than average, at a national level at least.

The winter average rainfall of 66mm has only been topped once in the past decade, with 2016’s winter particularly damp with 113mm.

All those clouds associated with the rain kept a lid on daily temperatures in August, while nights were relatively mild.

That left mean temperatures (averaging out the days and nights) slightly above average.

For winter as a whole it was another warmer than average season for Australia.

In fact it’s increasingly unlikely that we’ll get below-average winters or any other season as the background temperatures warm with the climate crisis.

If you’re wanting to look a little further back, here’s the wrap on 2021 from the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

Josh Butler

Nearly a third of people coming out of Covid isolation could be infectious after cut in isolation time, medical experts say

The Australian Medical Association says doctors nationwide “are scratching their heads” over national cabinet’s decision to cut Covid isolation to just five days, and has called on state premiers and the federal government to justify the change by releasing the health advice received yesterday.

The top doctors’ group raised concerns that some 30% of infected patients may still be infectious on days six and seven of their sickness, and worried the two-day cut to isolation may lead to higher case numbers.

In a press conference at parliament house, AMA president Prof Steve Robson asked the government to release the health advice they’d relied on to make the decision. He said:

The AMA, like a lot of medical groups and doctors around the country, were puzzled by the decision yesterday, the political decision to reduce isolation.

We’re puzzled they won’t release the health advice underpinning that … we’re calling for that to be released, so the politicians can justify to the public why they’re making this decision.

Advice provided to national cabinet is not generally released to the public. Guardian Australia has asked the prime minister’s office and the federal health department for access to the advice.

In a press conference in Sydney on Wednesday, prime minister Anthony Albanese said the national cabinet meeting had received advice from acting chief medical officer, Prof Michael Kidd.

Robson said the decision would have “enormous potential ramifications”. He said:

It really is a political decision that’s at odds with a lot of doctors’ thinking around the country.

There were 1,211 new cases in the last reporting period, and five people are in intensive care.

CSIRO tells jobs summit of key opportunities and challenges for the future

CSIRO has just wrapped up a presentation about its report on “future megatrends” at the jobs and skills summit.

The once-in-a-decade report identifies seven global megatrends, which include greater digital opportunities, adapting to climate changes and escalating health imperatives.

Enterprise agreements cover 11% of private sector, jobs summit hears

Greens spokesperson for employment, Senator Barbara Pocock, says the fact enterprise agreements cover just 11% of the private sector shows the system is “broken”.

But as well as the problems being showcased at the summit, ideas about future solutions are also on the table, with CSIRO presenting a report on “future megatrends” including how the world can look “leaner, cleaner and greener”.

Treasurer says jobs summit must get broader industrial relations settings right amid NSW strikes

Earlier, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, appeared on the Today Show and was asked about the strikes on the day of the jobs summit. Chalmers said:

What we want to avoid is a situation where employers and unions see themselves as having different interests here in the national economy.

Pressed on the NSW strikes and whether he had a problem with the train drivers’ actions, Chalmers responded:

That’s a state government matter … my job and the government’s job, Anthony Albanese’s job, is to try to get the broader industrial relations settings right so people can get that wages growth in a way [that means] everybody can win from it.