Cartoon of the Week

Cathy Wilcox

Quote of the Week

'“Yeah, it is quantitatively if you look at it, it is. I mean the numbers don’t lie,” Fauci said when asked during an interview with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta whether the U.S. had the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak. The U.S., which accounts for less than 5% of the world population, leads all other countries in global coronavirus infections and deaths.'  [Director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, quoted by CNBC on 5 August 2020]

“a woman who had told NSW Police at the Victorian border she would be self-isolating at Nimbin on the NSW North Coast was issued a $1000 fine after she was located 470 kilometres south in a vehicle at Nabiac. She was also directed to return to Victoria.” [WAtoday , 7 August 2020]

Scott Morrison still running away from scrutiny

The Federal Parliament was supposed to resume today, but as we know, the Prime Minister thinks it's still far too dangerous for our politicians. #auspol | @vanOnselenP pic.twitter.com/rIhTltv0fa

— 10 News First (@10NewsFirst) August 4, 2020

Prime Minister Scott 'Job Shirker' Morrison suspension of the Australian Parliament drags on and on.

Even though he has appropriate IT capability at his disposal Morrison is still refusing to let both the House of Representatives and the Senate sit virtually.

This means that the Australian Parliament has only sat for 28 days so far this year.

Which has left Scott Morrison and his cronies free of official scrutiny for most of the last six months.

Even during the 1919 Spanish Influenza pandemic which killed est. 15,000 Australians the Senate sat for 39 days and the House of Representatives for 51 days.

Both houses also sat during the world war years of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945.

However it seems, like his 'mentor' Donald Trump, Scott Morrison is made of lesser stuff.

Queensland locks down its borders once more

ABC News, 5 August 2020:

Queensland will close its border to all of New South Wales and the ACT from 1:00am on Saturday.

The 68-year-old Queensland woman was diagnosed with the virus in the past 24 hours and authorities are still investigating the source of the infection.

Two historic cases have also been added to the state's total of 1,088 cases.

The hotspot declaration means anyone travelling from NSW or the nation's capital will soon be banned from entering the Sunshine State.

Queenslanders who return after travelling there will be sent to mandatory hotel quarantine for 14 days at their own expense.

Queensland borders to close to NSW, ACT and Victoria. (ABC News: Lewi Hirvela)

Queensland COVID-19 snapshot:

Confirmed cases so far: 1,088

Deaths: 6

Tests conducted: 581,286

Latest information from Queensland Health......

New South Wales COVID-19 numbers as of a 5 August 2020 NSW Health update:

Confirmed cases (including interstate residents in NSW health care facilities) 3,631

Deaths (in NSW from confirmed cases) 52

Of the 12 new cases reported to 8pm last night:

• one is a traveller in hotel quarantine
• 10 were locally acquired linked to known cases including:
  • two cases linked to the Thai Rock restaurant in Wetherill Park
  • two cases linked to the Apollo restaurant in Potts Point
  • six cases associated with the funeral gatherings cluster
• one is locally acquired with unknown source

There are now:

• 105 cases associated with Thai Rock Wetherill Park cluster
• 58 cases associated with the Crossroads Hotel cluster
• 46 cases associated with the funeral events in Bankstown and surrounding suburbs, including 15 associated with Mounties in Mount Pritchard.
• 30 cases associated with the Potts Point cluster, including 24 cases linked to the Apollo Restaurant cluster and 6 cases linked with the Thai Rock Restaurant Potts Point cluster (two cases attended both and are counted as Thai Rock cases).

This is the man Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison consults concerning the way forward in the current global pandemic

CNN Politics, 4 August 2020:

Washington (CNN) Jonathan Swan, a reporter for Axios, has revealed the magic words that expose President Donald Trump's lies for what they are. 

 Who? 
What? 
How? 
No. 

In an interview that aired Monday night on "Axios on HBO," Swan demolished some of Trump's most dishonest talking points with a powerful tactic that has rarely been used by the people Trump has allowed to interview him: 

Basic follow-up questions. 

Many of Trump's interviewers are right-wing sycophants who have no interest in challenging him. But Trump has defeated even his other interviewers by employing a strategy we can call the hit-and-run -- saying dishonest stuff, then darting ahead to other dishonest stuff before the interviewer reacts. 

Swan -- like Fox News' Chris Wallace, to a slightly lesser extent, in an interview that aired July 19 -- came armed with facts and prepared to use them, even if he had to interrupt Trump like Trump interrupts others. 

And Trump wasn't ready to respond. 

Take their exchange about coronavirus testing. Trump uttered a version of his now-familiar refrain about how testing is overrated -- attributing this nonsense to unnamed "those that say." Swan pressed for details. 

Trump: "You know, there are those that say you can test too much, you do know that." 
Swan: "Who says that?" 
Trump: "Oh, just read the manuals. Read the books." 
Swan: "Manuals? What manuals?" 
Trump: "Read the books. Read the books." 
Swan: "What books?" 

 Trump moved on without offering a direct answer. While Swan couldn't get the President to concede that he is making up these "manuals" and "books," he exposed him nonetheless. 

Swan had similar success when Trump returned to his laughably inaccurate claim that the virus is "under control," which he has now been making for more than six months. 

Trump: "Right now, I think it's under control. I'll tell you what --" 
Swan: "How? 1,000 Americans are dying a day." 
Trump: "They are dying. That's true. And you have -- it is what it is. But that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. It's under control as much as you can control it." 

Again, Trump didn't explicitly surrender. But Swan's basic follow-up -- a "how?" and a single key statistic -- forced Trump into a de facto surrender ("It's under control as much as you can control it") and another revealing remark, "It is what it is." 

Other false claims 

Trump made at least 17 additional false claims in the 35-minute interview. (We're still reviewing the transcript, so the final total might be higher.).....

Read the full article here.

The interview Trump participated in over the bodies of 4.7 million COVID-19 infected Americans and almost 157,000 dead:

Things you might have missed in the daily news

Financial Review, 3 August 2020:

Taiwanese lender Yuanta Securities Investment Trust has sold $27 million worth of bonds in Adani's Abbot Point coal terminal in Queensland, joining a rapidly expanding list of Asian and global lenders that have shunned the controversial project.

Yuanta was once the second-biggest investor in one of the project's bond issuances, holding more than 5 per cent of a $US500 million issuance due to expire at the end of 2022….

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According to an ABC News artilce published on 31 July 2020, a senior federal Border Force officer allowed 2,700 people to disembark the Ruby Princess cruise ship mistakenly believing passengers had tested negative to COVID-19, when they had instead tested negative for the common flu. 

Border Force command only realised the mistake more than 30 hours after passengers — including 13 who had been isolated in their cabins with fever — had left the ship.

The Ruby Princess COVID-19 cluster resulted in at least 662 infections and 21 deaths, the single biggest arrival of coronavirus on Australian shores.

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The Market Herald, 23 July 2020:

• The Chinese navy has confronted Australian warships in the South China Sea en route to a military exercise with Japan and the U.S.
• Five ships, lead by HMA Canberra, were travelling through disputed waterways when they encountered the Chinese military
• The Joint Task Force was heading to the Philippine Sea at the time, where it planned to conduct military movements ahead of the biennial RIMPAC conference
• The exercise aimed to increase interoperability between the Australian, American, and Japnese navies, but came amid increasing tensions between the U.S. and China over territory in the South China Sea
• Speaking to the encounter, the Department of Defence said all "unplanned interactions with foreign warships throughout the deployment were conducted in a safe and professional manner"….

Next month, all three navies will head to the biannual Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) in Hawaii — the biggest global maritime warfare activity.

However, in 2018, China invitation to RIMPAC was withdrawn based on its 'aggressive' territorial claims in the South China Sea.

It's understood China won't participate in this year's RIMPAC event either.

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The Daily Telegraph, 1 August 2020, p.27:

The crowd pleaser

With world-famous surf breaks, natural springs and coastal charm, Yamba is the beach break you never knew you needed.

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'Eve Black' dramatically arrested in Melbourne week after she filmed hersel laughing her way through a Bunyip Victoria police checkpoint. She was detained around 2pm on 29 July in arrest that forced police to smash her car window. Now facing up to $10k fine [News Corp 31.07.20]

— no_filter_Yamba (@no_filter_Yamba) August 1, 2020

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According to recently released Australian Taxation Office data, in the 2017-18 financial year the amount of tax paid in main urban areas went as followed in the NSW Northern Rivers region:

• Grafton postcode 2460 – 14,500 individuals paid $117.32 million.
• Kyogle postcode 2474 – 3,336 individuals paid $24.66 million
• Ballina postcode 2478 – 15,690 individuals paid $186.06 million
• Lismore postcode 2480 – 24,989 individuals paid $207.96 million
• Byron Bay postcode 2481 – 9,050 individuals paid $114.50 million
• Tweed Heads postcode 2485 – 7,709 individuals paid $66.43million
• Tweed Heads postcode 2486 – 17,127 individuals paid $150.65 million.

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Former PM Tony Abbott, Alan Jones & George Pell ate at an exclusive club days before a staff member tested positive for COVID-19 [Daily Mail 01.08.70]. So were these men guests of a member. Or has the Australian Club sunk so low that it would now accept one this trio as a member?

— no_filter_Yamba (@no_filter_Yamba) August 2, 2020

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ABC News, 4 August 2020:

A growing group of anti-maskers have been "baiting" and antagonising Victorian police, and in one instance smashed the head of a female officer into concrete until she was concussed, authorities say. 

Police said two female police officers approached a 38-year-old woman, who was not wearing a face covering, in the Frankston area last night. 

After questioning the woman about why she was not wearing one, police allege she pushed one officer and struck the other in the head. "After a confrontation and being assaulted by that woman, those police officers went to ground and there was a scuffle," 

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said. "During that scuffle, this 38-year-old woman smashed the head of the [26-year-old] policewoman several times into a concrete area on the ground." 

Police said the constable was taken to Frankston Hospital with "significant head injuries". 

The woman's alleged assault left the young police officer with a concussion and a missing clump of hair, Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said. 

"The offender had a clump of our member's hair in her hands and said to our member 'what's it like to have your hair in my hands' or words to that effect," he said. "That's just horrible conduct — it's not human-like to be quite honest." 

Police have charged the alleged attacker with nine offences, including two counts of assaulting an emergency worker and one count of recklessly causing injury. 

She had no previous criminal history and was granted bail to appear before the Frankston Magistrates' Court on March 31, 2021.... 

Chief Commissioner Patton said in the past week police had seen a trend of people calling themselves "sovereign citizens" who "don't think the law applies to them". 

"We've seen them at checkpoints baiting police, not providing a name and address," he said. 

"On at least four occasions in the last week, we've had to smash the windows of cars and pull people out to provide details because they weren't adhering to the Chief Health Officer's guidelines, they weren't providing their name and address."

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Many Clarence Valley residents are not holding their breath over this NSW Berejiklian Government 2019 election promise

The Daily Telegraph, 31 July 2020, p.15:

Grafton Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis has told the Grafton Chamber of Commerce he expected to see his Grafton Base Hospital election promise granted when planning money was allocated in the 2020/21 NSW Budget. 

Executive officer Annmarie Henderson said the chamber had received written commitments from Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Health Minister Brad Hazzard and the Member for Clarence to start the $263.8 million upgrade in this term of government. 

The chamber said the Minister for Health advised “Health Infrastructure will work with the Northern NSW Local Health District and clinical staff to progress the project through the planning stages”.

BACKGROUND

NSW Nationals website, 19 June 2019:

“The Budget confirms key local election promises namely progressing planning for the $263 million Grafton Base Hospital redevelopment on top of the $17.5 million already invested in the current upgrade of the hospital,” Mr Gulaptis said.

Banner erected by Grafton Base Hospital Community Committee
Weileys Hotel, Grafton NSW
IMAGE:  The Daily Mercury, 31 July 2020