When it docked in Sydney, NSW, cruise ship "Ruby Princess" & its more than 4,000 passengers and crew were primarily the responsibility of the federal Morrison Coalition Government - but almost no-one gets off unscathed in recently published NSW Commission of Inquiry report

"The human consequences of the scattering upon disembarkation have not yet played out. That is the salient feature of an uneliminated infectious pandemic." [Report: Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess, 14 August 2020]

Evidence of human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (as COVID-19) emerged almost immediately following the discovery of the virus in Wuhan, China in early January 2020.

On 6 January 2020 a traveler returning by air from China arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, carrying the COVID-19 viral infection.

As the global pandemic grew so did the number of factors to be considered when implementing infection controls.

By early February 2020 concerns were being raised around the world concerning the number of international cruise ships which potentially might be carrying infected passengers.

As of 19 March 2020 the number of confirmed COVID19 cases in the NSW totaled 307 and community concern was mounting.

The “Ruby Princess” - a foreign-owned cruise ship which has capacity for 3,080 passengers and 1,200 crew members - docked in Sydney to board and disembark passengers from its 24 February to 8 March 2020 and 8 March to 19 March 2020 voyages. 

When it entered Sydney Harbour it became a Commonwealth responsibility under federal statutes; Customs Act 1901, Migration Act 1958, Australian Border Force Act 2015 and Biosecurity Act 2015 (an act which in part addresses human biosecurity and whose provisions are administer by the federal departments of Health & Agriculture, Water and the Environment).

By 19 March it was suspected that a number of passengers and crew might possibly have contracted the highly virulent COVID-19 infection.

Five days before the ship's docking Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison had informed the general public that Border Force had implemented measures to screen incoming cruise ships for the coronavirus - "In specific cases where we have Australians on cruise ships then there will be some bespoke arrangements that will be put in place directly under the command of the Australian Border Force to ensure the relevant protections are put in place".

However, it seems that the "Ruby Princess" was exempt from some of Morrison's so-called "bespoke arrangements", in that it had permission to come into Sydney when as a safety measure it should have been refused permission until after 15 April 2020.  It was exempt because it had departed a port outside of Australian waters before midnight on 15 March 2020. 

So, despite the prime minister’s statement on the morning of 19 March 2020 at least 2,700 passengers – a mix of Australian nationals and overseas visitors - were allowed to disembark in Sydney without being screened for the virus.

This mass disembarkation was the direct result of the NSW Dept. of Health Expert Panel classifying the "Ruby Princess" as 'low risk', together with an ongoing failure of a federal department to fully perform its legislated biosecurity functions and, finally verbal permission being given by an unauthorised Border Force official for all passengers to leave the ship on that morning.

With Border Force refusing to release cruise passenger details to airlines, there was no way of tracking passengers once they had left the ship and so infected passengers spread out across the state, across Australia and then by air across the world as oveseas travellers returned home.

Ruby Princess passengers dispersed around the world in the days after it docked. Some of them later displayed coronavirus symptoms.(ABC News: Emma Machan) 

It has been calculated that at least 662 "Ruby Princess" passengers contracted COVID-19 and over time 26 of these died.

By the time the "Ruby Princess" sailed out of Sydney on 23 April 2020 it was thought to be responsible for about one in every ten existing COVID-19 cases in Australia.

An est. 183 crew members were also thought to have become infected.

On 15 April 2020 the NSW Berejiklian Government created a Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess.

The Morrison Government did not assist the Inquiry in that it refused to allow a federal bureaucrat to answer any summons received from the Inquiry.

Indeed a summons to a Commonwealth officer to attend and give evidence about the grant of pratique for the "Ruby Princess" resulted in steps being taken towards proceedings in the High Court of Australia.

The Inquiry was due to report the the NSW Governor and Premier by 14 August 2020.

Report: Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess, 14 August 2020, can be read and downloaded at:

https://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/assets/dpc-nsw-gov-au/publications/The-Special-Commission-of-Inquiry-into-the-Ruby-Princess-Listing-1628/Report-of-the-Special-Commission-of-Inquiry-into-the-Ruby-Princess.pdf.

This report contains a litany of errors at federal, state and cruise ship operator level, as well as uncovering deficiencies in current legislation and regulations.

Indigenous academic women are in high demand but are often positioned as ‘black performer’ by their fellow academics and colleagues

@IndigenousX, 12 August 2020:

In recent decades it has become increasingly common for higher education institutions in so-called Australia to engage in institutional branding and marketing which position their organisations as ‘inclusive’, ‘equitable’ and committed to ‘indigenising’ their curriculums and research practice. Goals of increased Indigenous engagement, consultation, staffing, course content, and student enrolment and completion rates are often noted within formal institutional documents such as Reconciliation Action Plans (RAP). They may also be noted in speeches performed by executive members of the university, commitments made within Ethics applications as part of research project and grant applications; and communicated via the university’s online and community presence through social media and marketing campaigns. However, this study reveals that how and by whom such institutional goals and commitments are actually enacted within the academy remains an ongoing point of tension, and one which produces a significant burden on a minuscule workforce of Indigenous academics.

It is undeniable that Indigenous academics are in high demand, but with less than 430 Indigenous academics currently employed within Australian higher education institutions, and 69% of that cohort identified as female, what does it look like to experience this demand as an Indigenous academic woman? In 2019 I travelled this continent and spoke with Indigenous women who are presently employed within academic roles in Australian higher education institutions. Due to their belonging to a small, highly identifiable workforce, in order to ensure their anonymity, I cannot share the specific institutions they work in or identifying features such as which Nation group they belong to.

A novel finding of this study, and the focus of this article, is that despite being highly qualified within the academic system, and sovereign beings of these unceded lands, Indigenous academic women are often positioned as ‘black performer’ by their fellow academics and colleagues…..

Read full article here.

BACKGROUND

Academic Paper

‘Don’t make me play house -n***er’: Indigenous academic women treated as ‘black performer’ within higher education

Amy Thunig  Tiffany Jones

Received: 20 February 2020 / Accepted: 24 July 2020 © The Australian Association for Research in Education, Inc. 2020

Abstract

In an era where higher education institutions appear increasingly committed to what Sara Ahmed calls ‘speech acts’ whereby declared goodwill, through stated commitments to diversity, equity, and increasing Indigenous student enrolment and completion have been made; it is undeniable that Indigenous academics are in high demand. With fewer than 430 Indigenous academics currently employed here on the continent now commonly referred to as ‘Australia’, and 69% of that cohort identifying as female, what does it look like to experience this demand as an Indigenous academic woman? Drawing on data collected from a Nation-wide study in 2019 of 17 one-on-one, face-to-face interviews with Indigenous academic women, using Indigenous research methodologies and poetic transcription, this paper explores the experiences and relational aspects of Indigenous academic women’s roles in Australian higher education.

Shortage of doctors at Lismore Base Hospital due to Queensland-NSW border closure

Life during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a little harder across the NSW Northern River region......

ABC News, 12 August 2020:

A senior doctor at a major hospital on the New South Wales north coast says the closure of the Queensland border is a "political stunt".

Chris Ingall, an executive on the Medical Staff Council at the Lismore Base Hospital, said the health service was "scrambling" to cope with the effects on patients & staff, who must quarantine for 14 days if they enter Queensland from outside the so-called border bubble in the Tweed Shire.

"You've got over 100 doctors that work at Lismore Base Hospital that live in Queensland; they are no longer available to us because they don't want to leave their families & not get back," he said.

"So we are scrambling for doctors, anaesthetists, emergency doctors, a lot of the frontline doctors who are no longer going to be able to support Lismore Base Hospital."

Dr Ingall said it was having a significant impact on the risk posed to residents in the Northern Rivers.

"This doesn't need to happen at all from a medical perspective because there is no community transmission in the Northern Rivers," he said.....

Queensland has relaxed its border restrictions for people "entering to obtain specialist health care, or as a support person to a person obtaining specialist health care, that cannot be obtained at their place of residence".

But those entering from beyond the border bubble will have to go into government-provided quarantine for 14 days.

The cost for an adult is $2,800; one adult and one child is $3,255.

People classified as vulnerable or who can prove financial hardship can apply to have the fees waived.....

Australian Defence Force in 2020

The Australian, 11 August 2020:

The Defence Force has asked an independent expert to examine cultural and leadership failings involving Australia’s special forces ahead of a war crimes report on dozens of alleged murders of prisoners and civilians by the elite units in Afghanistan.

The study will look at the ethical standards and command culture of the secretive Special Air Service and Commando regiments from 1999 to the present day, with a focus on their deployment to Afghanistan in the war against al-Qa’ida and the Taliban.

The Australian can reveal that Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell has commissioned former naval officer and Anglican bishop Tom Frame to undertake the study, to be released in mid-2022.

The move comes as the government prepares for the release of a report by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force into at least 55 alleged breaches of the laws of war by Australian personnel during the nation’s 13-year on-the-ground commitment in Afghanistan.

The alleged crimes are expected to include the killing of unarmed men and children, and the mistreatment and execution of Taliban prisoners who posed no threat to their captors.

The IGADF report, by NSW Supreme Court judge Major General Paul Brereton, will rock the nation’s military establishment and tarnish community perceptions of the nation’s most revered warriors.

Professor Frame, a respected military historian with the University of NSW, will examine the wider context of the alleged crimes, including actions of senior ADF leaders and Australia’s military strategy in Afghanistan.

His study will be used as a basis for further reforms to the SAS and Commando regiments, and in planning military operations.

One former SAS officer spoken to by The Australian on condition of anonymity said by 2010, special forces operators on the ground in Afghanistan had lost faith in the strategy and “the whole thing was just starting to unravel”.

He said mentally ill soldiers were regularly sent on to the battlefield, and commanders -allowed a culture where lower ranked soldiers became more influential than their officers. “You’ve got guys doing six or seven tours. Think about what that does — six or seven tours with heavy combat,” the officer said.

He said “wild swings in roles and strategy” also took their toll, along with the intensity of the fighting.

“All these things led to a culture and an environment where I think there was a degree of impunity,” he said.

“The only thing that was important to us was our own tribe. We didn’t trust anyone. We didn’t think necessarily we were being supported by some of the leadership.”

Another former SAS officer, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, said the Australian people needed an explanation of the war in Afghanistan that went beyond individual cases of wrongdoing....

Meme of the Week

Jasenberg

Tweets of the Week

This TIME cover is something else. pic.twitter.com/fn406fSVrA

— Amy Siskind 🏳️‍🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) August 7, 2020

Remarkable. The Federal Govt is threatening to take the NSW #RubyPrincess Inquiry to the High Court.

Why? ⁦@ScottMorrisonMP⁩ doesn’t want federal officials to give evidence.

⁦@LucyHughesJones⁩ with the story ⁦@dailytelegraph⁩ 👇#auspol https://t.co/GdeOzy2Ujx

— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) August 12, 2020

A conga line of #COVIDIOTS - Part 3

NSW Police, News, 12 August 2020:

• A 23-year-old man was issued a $1000 PIN by officers from Murray River Police District after attempting to enter NSW for the third time without a valid permit.

• A 65-year-old man was issued a $1000 PIN by officers from Barrier Police District after continuing through the Buronga border checkpoint despite being denied entry due to not having a valid permit.

• A 58-year-old man was issued a $1000 PIN by officers from Murray River Police District after entering NSW without a valid permit. The man was stopped on the Hume Highway at Woomargama for the purposes of a Random Breath Test yesterday (Tuesday 11 August 2020). When spoken to by officers, he produced a Victorian licence and an invalid NSW border entry permit. He was issued a $1000 PIN, directed to leave NSW and escorted back to the Victorian border.