More fake news from CNN, the fake news channel. ARE Australians racist?
He offers very flimsy evidence. One could easily cite counter-evidence for his assertions -- such as the high rate of partnering between young Chinese females and white Australian men -- or the high rate of immigration from non-European backgrounds that is regularly accepted. Both of those are mass phenomena, not just isolated examples -- and are as such much more informative examples
AN AUSTRALIAN journalist has made waves after penning a controversial article questioning whether we are “becoming more racist” as a nation.
Ben Westcott, a digital news producer for CNN International who is based in Hong Kong, asked, “Is Australia becoming a more racist country?” in the article which was published yesterday.
In the divisive piece, he refers to the recent furore surrounding African gangs in Victoria, backlash to immigration and our growing population and a sensational interview with far-right agitator Blair Cottrell to argue his point.
Thanks to those factors, Westcott claimed “questions are emerging over whether Australia is a more racist country than it would like to believe”.
He said the fact an interview with convicted arsonist and neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell was ever aired on Sky News “has raised questions about Australia’s attitude to race”, and also quoted Australia’s outgoing Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane, who recently said our “racial harmony” was under threat.
“For the most part we are a highly cohesive and harmonious society but that doesn’t deny for a moment that racism continues to be a significant social problem,” Mr Soutphommasane said.
Mr Westcott went on to cite an April study from Australian research company Essential, which revealed 64 per cent of those surveyed said immigration levels over the past decade had been “too high”.
He also claimed while there was a great deal of hysteria surrounding African gangs, “crimes involving Sudanese residents account for just 1 per cent of Victoria’s total criminal activity, with the vast majority of crimes committed by Australian-born residents”.
Unsurprisingly, many Australians were angered by Westcott’s piece, including Liberal Party pollster Mark Textor, who slammed the article as “profound, profound idiocy”.
What profound, profound idiocy. One fuckwit is interviewed on a show nobody watches & Australia turns on it’s axis? Australians are now all racist? FFS. The media’s prism is it’s own brown rear-freckle. Luckily the rest of hardworking Australia goes on it’s own decent way.
Others took to Twitter to brand the story as “absolute garbage”, with many suggesting the US-owned company should look at America’s racial problems before pointing the finger at other countries.
“You need only step outside your own nations (sic) door CNN if you want to write an expose on racism …,” one Twitter user posted, while another added: “We’ve embraced many people from all over the world. Most of them enjoy our easy going lifestyle. The minority that don’t accuse us of racism.”
But Westcott’s piece also had its fair share of [Leftist] supporters, with many claiming Australia did have a racism problem we needed to address.
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Global warming misses out Western Australia
Even PM Turnbull has made the absurd claim that the drought in South Eastern Australia is due to global warming. But if there is no drought in Western Australia, the warming is not very global is it? Besides, global temperatures have been falling for the last couple of years
As farmers on the eastern coast of Australia battle through the worst drought in a century, their Western Australia counterparts are on track to record the best harvest in a decade.
Grain farmers in Western Australia could contribute $6billion to the economy thanks to a combination of rain and high demand.
The increased demand for grain has seen WA prices inflate to as much as $360 a tonne, the most since a record-breaking year in 2016.
Adversely, NSW grain production has slowed to a crawl, as farmers suffer through the worst drought in a century.
It has been at least ten years since seasonal and pricing factors have worked in farmers' favour agriculture marketing director Richard Vincent told The West Australian.
He says that some farmers in the right conditions could end up with as much as 70 per cent higher income than projected.
The Eastern states' drought also contributed to their profits, as a lack of production from the east means more demand for the west's produce.
'Although nobody wants to see our eastern states counterparts in drought, the high grain prices are providing enormous opportunities in the west,' Mr Vincent said.
If Western Australian farmers are able to match their export of 16.6 million tonnes, which they're on track to do, their gross income would be about $6billion.
There's also been 30 per cent more rainfall than anticipated in the west, contributing to a 25 to 40 per cent increase in prices for wheat and barley.
Western Australia produces about seven million tonnes of wheat every year.
Some Western Australian farmers reported they had 78mm of rain in the past week.
In the past month, NSW farmers reported less than 10mm of rain, with the trend of low rainfall projected for at least the next three months.
Authorities officially declared the entire state in drought on Wednesday.
With the weather bureau warning there is no end in sight, the Red Cross has set up a relief appeal, while the Salvation Army is distributing food hampers.
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African Gangs blamed for Melbourne rampage
POLICE say they know why two groups of Sudanese-Australian youths, totalling more than 50, gathered to fight in Melbourne’s northwest on Wednesday night.
Victorian Police Commissioner Graham Ashton says the teens who threw rocks at police and reportedly shouted “police can’t touch us” were planning to clash “over a couple of girlfriends or something like that”.
Mr Ashton told ABC Radio one group was from the northern suburbs and one was from the southern suburbs. The planned fight was stopped by police who received a tip-off and quickly arrived and dispersed those involved.
Commander Tim Hansen confirmed the fight was about “a girl” at a media conference at 1pm today.
“As we’re aware, police became aware of a planned fight,” he said. “Currently, it would appear the genesis of this fight or this agreement to come together from these two disparate groups was based on a teenage relationship issue over a girl.
“That quickly became the focus of social media attention and as a result of that two distinct groups of friends met up at this location and the situation escalated rather rapidly.”
Terrified residents of Taylors Hill were told to “stay inside and lock the doors” as police arrived.
Dozens of heavily armed riot and plain-clothed police blocked off main roads and diverted traffic in Taylors Hill and Caroline Springs.
Some of the teens were still wearing their school uniforms when the groups gathered at a basketball court about 5.30pm and began throwing rocks. One rock smashed the rear windscreen of a police car.
Mr Hansen said two groups of young African males planned to meet at Taylors Hill following an escalation in “tensions”.
“Our intelligence at this stage is that there is a bit of tension between two groups of young males,” he told Sunrise.
“We are really trying to unpack that and understand that currently. We got some intelligence last night that these tensions were simmering away and likely to come to a head in the western suburbs, so we immediately activated one of our plans and pooled resources.”
Mr Hansen said the violence is “not widespread” and officers are “currently engaged with some of these persons that are operating in what you would call street gangs, I guess”.
Taxi drivers were warned on Wednesday night via their in-car message boards to avoid the area “due to a riot”.
“There were massive groups,” one horrified resident told the Herald Sun. “They told me to stay inside, lock the doors and yeah, it’s scary,” another resident added.
One resident of Bronte Way told The Age that police were roaming the area and a helicopter was flying overhead when he came home.
“This has happened multiple times … but it hasn’t happened for a good four or five months,” he said. “That’s the reason we have roller shutters now. I’m not opening the door. I was told by police to get inside before.”
Another neighbour said Wednesday night’s clash was the “worst yet”. “We’ve been here nine years and this is the worst yet … You build a nice house in a nice area … you don’t want to start seeing things like that, where is it coming from?” he told The Age.
One of the rioters was heard by residents shouting “police can’t touch us”, according to the Today Show.
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Freedom of speech comes first as uni upgrades campus rally security
La Trobe University administrators will pay to beef-up security on campus for a Liberal Party event featuring prominent therapist and social commentator Bettina Arndt, after protesters threatened to derail the event with a “rally against sexism and bigotry”.
Liberal students at La Trobe have considered changing the date of Ms Arndt’s address over fears they wouldn’t be able to pay for security to restrain a rally planned to coincide with her speech.
But university administrators yesterday told The Australian they had decided the university would cover the cost of security, out of a desire to preserve free speech and discussion on campus. “We welcome free speech and the event will go ahead,” a spokesman said.
“Event security will be provided by the university at no cost to student organisers.”
Liberal students arrived at university this week to find the campus dotted with posters urging students to protest against Ms Arndt, who will deliver an address challenging claims of a rape crisis on campus.
University administrators have charged the club $235 for room booking and one security guard to cover the event. The invoice also stated the club was liable for the total cost, which will depend on final numbers, hours worked and other variables such as damage.
Club members had said they were concerned additional security costs could force them to pull the event. But they applauded the university’s decision yesterday to meet the security costs.
“It’s an exciting development, it just a shame that it came after a bit of media pressure and hopefully next time they’ll think twice before moving to censor an event off the bat,” La Trobe University Liberal Club president James Plozza told The Australian.
La Trobe University has repeatedly defended its desire to encourage free speech and robust debate on campus, despite administrators initially voicing concerns about Ms Arndt’s speech failing to align with the uni’s own campaign against sexual violence.
Free-market think thank the Institute of Public Affairs applauded the decision, and said more Australian universities should follow suit because the risk of protests was pricing clubs out of putting on provocative speakers.
Analysts pointed to Sydney University Conservative Club, which had to spend hundreds of dollars on additional security for an event headlined by conservative commentator Miranda Devine, on “the dangers of socialism”.
“The charging of security fees is censorious. It is punishing the victims of a potential abusive protest,” IPA research fellow Matthew Lesh said. “This also creates a ‘heckler’s veto’ because if they amass a big enough protest with high enough security costs then the Liberal students will not be able to afford to have her on campus. If (universities) fail to protect the speech of controversial figures they are failing to live up to their legal mandates to safeguard free expression.”
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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