Australian Federal Police launches a new recruitment drive – but only WOMEN can apply
What a howl there would be if the advertisement were "men only". Why must people be hired on the basis of what they have between their legs?
Men wishing to join the Australian Federal Police need not apply - for the next few months at least. The AFP's Acting Commissioner Leanne Close is hoping 1,000 women apply to become federal police officers during the next recruitment round.
But she argued the exclusion of men, as part of the force's first-ever women's-only recruitment round, was not sexist with women making up just 22 per cent of sworn AFP officers.
'What we are not doing is recruiting enough women to reach the targets that we want by 2021 … so we are actively marketing out there to really target those women who would be keen for a great, challenging and really diverse career,' she told a graduation ceremony attended by the ABC.
The AFP wants female representation to jump to 35 per cent by 2021 and is working to employ 600 more women during the next four years.
The women's-only recruitment round, from now until Christmas, will relate to entry-level positions.
The AFP told the ABC women made up just one-third of its staff and a quarter of senior leaders.
The gender-biased recruitment policy was announced on Thursday the AFP's latest graduation round, of which more than half were women.
Australia has only had one female police commissioner, with Christine Nixon leading Victoria's police force from 2001 to 2009. The senior police commander came under fire in 2010 when a royal commission into the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires found out she was having dinner during a disaster that killed 173 people.
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Victoria, NSW to be penalised for outlawing fracking under Grants Commission plan
States that fail to permit coal seam gas mining would be penalised under a fresh proposal from the Grants Commission to change the method of distributing goods and services tax revenue.
The adjustment would hurt Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, each of whom has complete or partial bans on coal seam gas exploration or development or has a moratorium on fracking.
The gas crisis has been averted, but state governments in NSW and Victoria are to blame for forcing their residents to pay more, says Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
The proposal, in a position paper prepared for the commission's review of the principles behind the GST distribution, is to treat royalties from coal seam gas in the same way as taxes on gambling. It would apply from 2020.
States that choose not to allow poker machines and collect poker machine revenue are regarded as having voluntarily forgone income and not compensated for earning less than the states that do.
The commission wants to consider whether "similar considerations arise in certain potential mineral and energy developments".
"In these circumstances, the commission could take the view that all states that have coal seam gas have the opportunity to exploit it and whether they do or not solely reflects policy choice," the position paper says.
The change would also apply to uranium. The commission says until now it hasn't needed to consider the question because neither coal seam gas nor uranium royalties have been big enough "to result in a material assessment".
Victoria imposed a moratorium on coal seam gas exploration in 2012. NSW banned all activity within 2 kilometres of residential areas in 2013. The Victorian decision was taken by the Coalition government of Ted Baillieu. The NSW decision was taken by the Coalition government of Barry O'Farrell.
The Baird government in NSW temporarily froze new exploration in 2015 while implementing a report designed to ensure the safety of coal seam gas mining by the NSW chief scientist Mary O'Kane.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull attacked Victoria's position on Thursday, saying the only obstacle to getting Victorian gas out of the ground was the Labor government.
"The idea that Victorians are going to have to pay the cost of shipping gas from the Middle East or from Louisiana or from north-west Australia because they have a government that is not prepared to access the gas resources in Victoria is extraordinary," he said. "It is a shocking indictment of Daniel Andrews and his government. There is plenty of gas in Victoria, onshore gas in Victoria."
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas ridiculed the Grants Commission position paper on Friday, saying Victoria would not be "held to ransom or bullied by an inept government that blames everyone else but itself for its own incompetence". "If Scott Morrison wants to know how to grow an economy and manage debt he should follow Victoria's lead."
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said unlike other states, NSW did not have a ban on coal seam gas. "We believe states should make the most of what they have. When it comes to GST distribution, NSW is sick of subsidising inefficient and non-reforming states," he said.
A proposal by Santos to mine coal seam gas in the Pilliga Forest on the North West Plains is before the NSW Planning Assessment Commission.
The Andrews government said this week that it is "proud" of its permanent ban on fracking in Victoria, which became law in March.
The ban is supported by the Coalition, but the political agreement does not extend to the Andrews government's moratorium on conventional onshore exploration. The moratorium is due to expire in June 2020. In the lead-up, the government has asked scientist Amanda Caples to inquire into the "risks, benefits and impacts of onshore conventional gas".
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Rugby league bans gay pride flags, 'yes' and 'no' signs from the grand final
NRL and AFL policies
The NRL has scrapped political messages being displayed in the crowd at the game’s showcase event, with rainbow flags and ‘yes’ or ‘no’ signs being barred from the grand final.
Sunday night’s clash between the favoured Melbourne Storm and the underdog North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney will be free of any messages related to the ongoing same-sex marriage postal survey.
Anything which may ‘upset other patrons’ will not be allowed in the stadium, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The official policy from ANZ Stadium says any unauthorised political images or logos will cause punters to be refused entry into the venue.
Security will be making compulsory bag checks at the stadium.
Meanwhile sport and politics continue to mix, as an ad supporting the marriage status quo will run during Sunday night’s game despite being banned from being broadcast during the AFL grand final.
The advertisement was not run during Richmond’s victory over Adelaide on Saturday as it was too rude, according to Sky News.
The ad features abusive messages the Coalition for Marriage says it has received since the plebiscite began. The statements include comments such as ‘I genuinely hope someone kicks your teeth in’, ‘homophobic maggots’ and ‘homophobic bigot’.
It was banned because of the earlier ball-up time of the AFL grand final, while the NRL decider is scheduled to kick off at 8.30pm.
The ad is allowed to go to air after 7.30pm.
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What's happened to the University?
Jeremy Sammut
Many people are likely to have had a lightbulb moment that made them realise our universities are in trouble.
Over the past year, I have commented in many media stories about a range of social engineering initiatives across everything from early childhood education to corporate Australia pushing the 'diversity agenda' in matters of race, gender and sexuality.
What has struck me is that the ideological agendas being promoted aim to shape, set and enforce the boundaries of acceptable -- as opposed to offensive racist, patriarchial or homo- or trans-phobic thought and speech.
This has brought home to me the extent to which the precepts of postmodernism -- which were taking hold in universities when I was an undergraduate -- have entered mainstream society.
The postmodernism revolves around the idea that language used by the dominant culture or discourse creates social reality and oppresses certain victim groups. It follows that marginalised groups are liberated by restricting or regulating freedom of thought and speech around a range of issues that are simply no longer up for debate and discussion and dissent.
Yet debate discussion and dissent are the foundations of the freedom of enquiry that universities should stand for as bastions of intellectual freedom -- but not in the post-modern academy.
According to Sydney University's latest 'Unlearn' marketing campaign, students will not be pursuing enlightenment while studying for their degrees, but de-construction by being "taught how to unlearn...and, challenge the established, demolish social norms and build new ones in their place."
The 'Unlearning' university promises not an education in how the world really works based on reason, logic, and rational analysis; it promises an indoctrination in how academic ideologues with a one-trick agenda demand it should work.
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Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here