It's good that such bans are only talk at this stage. The big issue is in defining who is "extremist far-right". In America, conservative family-oriented organizations are sometimes branded as "white supremacist" or the like simply because they are conservative. One man's moderate can be another man's extremist.
To me all American Leftists are racist extremists because of their support for "affirmative action". So any bans should be founded on a very clear definition of "far right" and "extremist" that is widely agreed on both sides of the political spectrum.
To me the only justifiable bans, if any, are on people who actually practice violence. Big talk is common but it is mostly just hot air. And where do we find any Australian Rightists practicing violence, let alone ones who are members of a violent group? The repeated acts of violence by Muslims surely make them a group of political extremists but that seems to be OK somehow.
The only Australian "Far Rightist" who actually attacked and killed people as far as I can remember was Brenton Tarrant and he was very much a lone wolf. And he was as much a Greenie as a Rightist. And he didn't even carry out his attacks in Australia, sadly for New Zealanders.
So there are undoubtedly some Australians with views that could be described as "far Right" but what harm have they done? They don't seem capable of energizing even one-another into violence, let alone people in the population at large.
Neo Nazis are undoubtedly extremists with some views that identify them as Rightist so what harm have they done in Australia? I did a close-up study of them some years ago (See here and here) and found not even advocacy of violence among them. They would say "I wish.." for violence against someone but showed not the slightest disposion to do anything about it personally.
So if even Australian neo-Nazis are non-violent in practice where are the "extremist far-right" organizations that need to be banned?
Terror analysts say there is growing pressure on Australia to ban extremist far-right organisations as other nations take decisive action on the issue.
Labor's home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally this week called on the Morrison government to send a signal that extremist views won’t be tolerated by officially listing and banning right-wing organisations.
The United Kingdom, the United States and Canada have all moved to ban extremist right-wing groups in their jurisdictions.
Deakin University counter-terrorism expert Professor Greg Barton said Western democracies around the world are increasingly being forced to consider taking stronger against the extreme far-right.
“There certainly is increasing pressure from Western democracies to ban right-wing extremist groups both in the political realm and the social media realm,” he told SBS News.
“(But) this is the very challenging area, we don’t have such clear egregious examples that we can easily move – often I think in practice this will apply to individuals not organisations.”
Currently, there are no such groups on Australia’s banned terrorist organisation list.
There are currently 26 groups on the Australian list - 25 of those are Islamist organisations and the other is the Kurdistan Worker's Party.
ASIO has warned that right-wing extremism poses an increasing threat in Australia as groups become more organised.
Counter-terrorism expert Leanne Close from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute told SBS News there were at least a dozen right-wing groups emerging in Australia.
She said they can be defined by a nationalistic and anti-Islamic approach, a focus on cultural superiority and behaviour that trends towards violence.
“I know ASIO will always be keeping an eye on whether these groups are moving to a call to action,” she said.
“(But) the situation in Australia at the moment is... not as dire as places like the US and the experience that possibly the UK is having in relation to right-wing extremism.”
Earlier this week, the British home secretary Priti Patel moved to outlaw the far-right terror group Feuerkrieg Division, which has advocated the use of violence and mass murder as part of an apocalyptic race war.
In February, the United Kingdom also formally banned extremist right group the Sonnenkrieg Division and recognised the System Resistance Network as an alias of National Action – another right-wing group on the list.
In April this year the United States designated the Russian Imperial Movement, a white supremacist group, as global terrorists.
Canada has itself listed right wing extremist groups Blood and Honour and Combat 18 as terrorist groups.
Senator Keneally said the time has come for Australia to take stronger action against those that posed a right wing-extremist threat.
"The proscription of a right-wing organisation - international or domestic - would send a powerful message that these extremist views will not be tolerated,"" she wrote in an article for ASPI's The Strategist.
The coronavirus pandemic has also fuelled the spread of extremist messages.
Counter-terrorism analyst Professor Clive Williams has warned against specific bans on targeted groups.
“I don’t think it is a good idea to ban right wing groups because once you ban them it drives them underground and makes them much more cautious about their communication,” he told SBS News.
“The threat really from right-wing groups can be monitored fairly well because at the moment they are not particularly security conscience and they are relatively easy to infiltrate.“
Under Australia's national security laws, before an organisation is listed, the home affairs minister must be satisfied on reasonable grounds that it "is directly or indirectly engaged in preparing, planning, assisting or fostering the doing of a terrorist act, or advocates the doing of a terrorist act".
Mr Barton said the splintered nature of right-wing extremist groups means authorities in Australia remained more likely target the behaviour of individuals rather than implement targeted bans.
“Most of this is not going to be about banning a group … it’s going to be working out the individual behavioural level and communications,” he said.
“There does seem to be an awareness we are going to have to do something.”
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BLM’s inconvenient truth
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
The greatest failing of the Black Lives Matter movement in Australia, and a complete contradiction to their cause, is that it ignores the lives taken at the hands of other black people. It is also driven by the false claim that black deaths in custody are a result of systemic racism by allegedly murderous white police.
The fact remains for Aboriginal Australians, as it does for African-Americans, that far more black lives are taken by other black people than by white people, or by white police.
While this is an inconvenient truth for the Black Lives Matter movement it is a fact we must confront if we are to improve the lives of Aboriginal Australians in Australia. Unfortunately such movements favour emotional rhetoric over fact.
Of the 400-plus Aboriginal deaths in custody since the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody report in 1991, almost half in police custody were accidental, mostly as a result of vehicle accident injuries, followed by natural causes and self-inflicted trauma.
For deaths in prison custody after being sentenced, most were due to natural causes, followed by suicide and other self-inflicted causes due to drugs and alcohol.
From 1989–2012, the Australian Institute of Criminology reports there were 1,096 homicide incidents involving at least one Indigenous person. There were 951 Aboriginal victims of homicide, more than double the 437 deaths that Black Lives Matter protestors are solely concerned with. Of the 951 Indigenous homicide victims, 765 were killed by an Indigenous offender.
Of the 7,599 Australian homicide offenders (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) over that time, 16 per cent – or 1,234 – were Indigenous, yet we are only 3 per cent of the Australian population.
The facts are clear. Yet Black Lives Matter, some media and some of our country’s leaders ignore these fundamental truths. This only perpetuates the ongoing carnage and maintains the high rates of Indigenous incarceration.
It’s time for some honesty in order to confront these uncomfortable truths.
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NONE of the Aboriginal gang rapists who brutally attacked a five-year-old boy on a remote beach will be charged and will get COUNSELLING instead
This is an example of what Jacinta Price (above) is talking about
Four children under the age of 13 accused of brutally raping a five-year old boy on a remote beach in an Aboriginal community in Far North Queensland will not be charged or face prosecution.
The attack unfolded at Napranum, on the north-west coast of Cape York, on July 1, police allege.
One of the alleged offenders is under the age of ten and cannot be held criminally responsible, while the other three boys are aged between ten and 13.
The alleged attack was so violent the five-year-old required emergency medical treatment and was airlifted to Cairns Hospital, some 800km away.
But due to the extremely young age of the alleged offenders in Napranum, police can use their discretion to determine how they proceed.
In this case, the four boys will be dealt with under the process of 'restorative justice'.
The unorthodox tactic is commonly used in indigenous communities and normally involves extensive counselling, a mediated meeting with the victim's family and an apology to the victim.
Community members said the disturbing allegations have torn several families apart and reopened wounds from a shocking sex crime that happened 15 years earlier.
Napranum is considered one of the most deprived areas in Queensland with high levels of crime and unemployment in the 900-strong community.
The mother of the alleged victim fell pregnant with him before she had even reached her teens, The Australian reported.
A Queensland Police spokesman confirmed none of the alleged attackers would face criminal court.
'Under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act, the Queensland Police Service have a number of avenues to consider, including Children’s Court, alternative diversion programs, conferencing and restorative justice processes,' the spokesman said.
'The action taken by police is based on evidence garnered throughout the investigative process and is reviewed by senior police prior to the commencement of any action.
'This action also considers giving the offender the best opportunity of rehabilitation and reducing the risk of repeat offending.'
'There are big arguments about how this happened,' one local said. 'It is creating big problems in the town. It is not the first time something like this has happened.'
The neighbouring community of Aurukun, about 40km south of Napranum, was at the centre of nationwide outrage in 2006 when a ten-year-old girl was gang raped by nine men aged between 13 and 25.
The young girl was born to an alcoholic mother and suffered from a mild intellectual disability.
Although the men all pleaded guilty to a litany of sexual offences, the judge spared them jail time and said the victim 'probably agreed' to have sex with them.
She ruled the men were also victims themselves after growing up deprived and subjected to physical and sexual abuse at the hands of others in their community.
No convictions were recorded in the horrifying case, sparking fury across Australia.
SOURCE
Call for used car imports to boost EV sales
There should be plenty of secondhand electric cars to buy. When people in cold climates such as Canada discover how useless such cars are in their long Winters, many would wish to cut their losses
Australia should pump-prime sales of electric vehicles by grey importing used EVs, according to a new report prepared with funding from the federal government’s renewable energy agency, ARENA.
Compiled by the EV lobby group Evenergi, the report is part of ARENA’s ‘Knowledge Bank’ series.
It says an opportunity exists for the import of used electrified passenger vehicles into Australia from fellow right-hand drive markets Japan and the UK, where EVs have sold in volume for some years.
It cites the Nissan LEAF and Renault ZOE battery electric vehicles and Toyota Prius and Volkswagen Golf GTE plug-in hybrids as candidates for local sale as grey imports.
“The establishment of a viable market for the importation of used electric vehicles represents a significant business opportunity, and is one of the most important ways that the adoption of electric vehicles can be accelerated in Australia,” the report stated
“In the absence of significant legislative and regulatory change in the short term, there is a clear opportunity over the next two-three years to create an opportunity for a ‘player’ to enter the Australian market at scale to establish themselves in the long term value chain.”
Not including Tesla, which doesn’t report to VFACTS, sales of plug-in vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) are up more than 18 per cent in a dramatically reduced Australian auto market in 2020. However, those 1516 sales to the end of June are still only a tiny 0.34 per cent share of the total.
A key impediment to growth is the price of new EVs, which start at best just under $50,000 in Australia and are usually much higher in price. A flow of used EVs would offer potential buyers a cheaper option.
Unsurprisingly, the concept of an EV grey market is not being received with much enthusiasm within the Australian automotive distribution and retailing network, which fought off a push to deregulate personal vehicle importation in 2017.
“We hope that report remains just that and simply gets presented to ARENA and that’s it,” said Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) chief executive James Voortman.
The report used motoring body NRMA as an example of an organisation well positioned to become an EV importer.
“It has the complementary products required to fully articulate the revenue opportunities, and to lend the credibility needed to ensure the initiative is a success.
“Alternatively aggressive and well capitalised start-ups or existing importing incumbents could capitalise on the opportunity.”
The business model the report advocates is for the import of a small number of EVs for test driving, while vehicles are purchased sight unseen overseas and then imported for delivery.
The local sales company would provide warranties and post-sales support, the report explains.
“The supply and diversity of electric vehicles is growing globally and as such a reliable and cost-effective supply can be established. With a strong brand and streamlined process, initial estimates are that a business with strong margins can be established and scaled quickly with little capital,” the report says.
“Work by Evenergi and NRMA has demonstrated that there is significant and growing demand from a range of buyers for electric vehicles that cannot be satisfied by the current electric vehicle supply – primarily due to price or availability.”
The report recommends using the updated Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicles Scheme (SEVS) as the conduit for the import of EVs.
SOURCE