Wednesday, 5 October 2022

Taking a walk with Twitter through Lismore City's still devastated streets








@worldzonfire, 1 October 2022

There are currently around 77 Apprehended Violence Orders listed before Lismore Local Court from 4 to 24 October 2022.

Possibly one of the signs that since March 2022 post-flood stress has been taking a heavy toll on the community.


BACKGROUND


The Northern Star, 26 September 2022:


There are approximately 4000 businesses in Lismore, and 3000 were flood affected, according to Lismore Chamber of Commerce president Ellen Kronen.


Many businesses relocated to surrounding towns like Ballina or Alstonville temporarily, but it’s unlikely some will return.


Very few Lismore businesses have publicly announced they are leaving permanently.


About 100 have left so far, but Ms Kronen suspects as many as 10 per cent won’t come back.


“I think some of those have an intention of coming back but they probably won’t,” Ms Kronen said……


The bigger corporates like Officeworks and Spotlight are coming back just fine. But the problem is the local small, and micro businesses are struggling to get back operational.


Ms Kronen said 80 per cent of flood damaged Lismore businesses are still operating on one power point six months on from the devastating February floods – with commercial landlords struggling to finance repairs.


Grants for flood affected businesses may be the difference between shop owners who’ve been struggling to generate an income for six-months staying or leaving, Ms Kronen said.


“When you look at the number of buildings that are empty, often it’s a lack of money that the landlords just don’t have, or they’re just so stretched that you know, they can’t finance anymore.” she said.


“I know people love bagging landlords, but my experience with landlords ... they want businesses back in their building, because that’s their income.”


Lismore business owners have been left in the dark while electricity retailers and government play hot potato on the responsibility of reconnecting flood damaged premises, Ms Kronen said.


Stores are reporting service fees and power bills for electricity for derelict and uninhabitable buildings, followed by threatening debt collection notices.


“It’s just another layer of stress on top of everything else,” Ms Kronen said.


Electricity retailers are working to resolve the issues with individual businesses, but Ms Kronen, owner of Made In Lismore, said it’s too little too late.


“They seem to be a little bit tone deaf when they’re fielding complaints or trying to explain the situation,” she said.


“I had someone from overseas answer my call who didn’t even know about the Lismore floods.”


Ms Kronen said Essential Energy did a great job getting power back online in Lismore, but the town has been left with the bare minimum and shop owners are surviving on emergency infrastructure.


Murray Watts, Senator for Energy Management, was going to visit a delegation of flood affected Lismore businesses - only to cancel at the last minute, Ms Kronen said.


“If all levels of government know what’s going on then we might actually see something happen,” she said.


“The government could have a conversation with the power companies to have a better response next time.


“I hate saying ‘next time’, but there will be a next time.”



The Australian (Online), 26 September 2022:


Medical peak bodies are calling on the federal government to provide an immediate $15m injection of funds to help health services recover, endorsing a proposal put forward by the NSW Rural Doctors Network.


They also want all regional and rural health services classified as essential services for the purposes of support and recovery in the event of a disaster, which would open up access to immediate financial support and resources to rebuild damaged or destroyed health facilities and replace equipment.


The calls to prop up struggling medics in Lismore comes as the nation faces a looming doctor shortage crisis, particularly in the regions and the bush. The Royal Australian College of GPs has called a General Practice Crisis Summit in Canberra on October 5 to “tackle the most pressing issues affecting patient care”……


In Lismore, local medics estimate that about half the private medical workforce is no longer practising in the area. The town lost three major GP clinics and Lismore Base Hospital’s emergency department is overloaded.


With most given only $50,000 emergency relief grant funding, doctors and pharmacists have been struggling to repair destroyed premises and replace expensive medical equipment lost in the floods. Many were not insured for flood, given the risks in the area, and have had to take out hundreds of thousands of dollars in commercial loans to rebuild.


Pharmacist Kyle Wood, owner of Southside Pharmacy which has two premises in Lismore destroyed in the floods, estimates he has had to spend between $1m and $1.5m to rebuild and restock the chemists.


“Everyone is just running on empty, stressed and fatigued,” Dr Wood said.


The business lost a lot of specialist equipment it used to supply to patients and the hospital, such as commercial breast pumps, electric patient lifters and rehabilitation equipment.


Dr Wood has received an extra $150,000 in relief from the NSW government but it is only a fraction of his costs. “The government was willing to give Norco $35m to keep them alive, I think they had 170 jobs there. We’re asking for half that. There’s far more people employed in health services in Lismore. We have more than 30 people employed in our two stores.”


Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson said he was not prepared for the devastation and the conditions health workers were dealing with when he toured the region last week.


“The personal toll still being borne by the community is shocking,” he said.


“No community health service provider should have to experience the funding uncertainty that healthcare businesses in the Lismore region have faced over the last 6½ months.


“Lismore is the blueprint for ensuring all health services are treated as essential services. It’s time to act now before parts of this great country become dystopian landscapes of desperate climate refugees with no access to health, housing and other basic human rights.”



ABC North Coast, 27 September 2022:


…...Former Lismore City councillor Eddie Lloyd launched the petition, saying the uncertainty was compounding people's trauma & anxiety.


"It's been seven months now & we're still in limbo in terms of our future, waiting for bureaucrats to tell us what's going on & who will be eligible for a buyback & land swap," she said.


Premier Dominic Perrottet & Deputy Premier & Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole have been approached for a response.


The state member for Lismore, Labor MP Janelle Saffin, said the "radio silence" from the government was unacceptable.


"People need to be informed," she said.


"We can live with things slowing down a little bit if we know it's coming … [but] the communications from the state government on flood recovery [has been] appalling."


In August, the government's independent flood inquiry was released, recommending people in the highest-risk areas of the Northern Rivers be "urgently" relocated by way of land swaps & buybacks.


Many expected expressions of interest for such schemes to have been announced in late July or early August following an announcement by the head of the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation.


They were disappointed when it was later announced that expressions of interest would be used to identify land that could be considered for future developments…..


Mr Witherdin [Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation chief executive] said an announcement about buybacks, land swaps, house raising or resilient rebuilding was contingent on funding from the state & federal governments.


"These are really significant investments from a government perspective — you're talking hundreds of millions, into billions, so it's a matter of getting the data there to support that," he said.


"Once we get that [decision] we can lock in on clear dates & give the community that road map of how we roll [it] out."


Ms Saffin said despite the delays there would be assistance for flood affected residents.


"There's a commitment there to do it, so please take heart in that," she said.


"But equally, the government should have done it sooner — & it was promised that it would be done sooner & we're still waiting for those expressions of interest."


As Northern Rivers residents brace for a third consecutive La Niña & the very real possibility of more flooding, Ms Lenane said having hope for the future in the form of some certainty around rebuilding or relocating would be like a light at the end of the very dark tunnel.


"I'd really love a piece of that hope right now," she said.



Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 27 September 2022:



La Niña conditions increase the chance of above average spring and summer rainfall in northern and eastern Australia. When a La Niña and a negative phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole coincide, the likelihood of above average rainfall over Australia, particularly over the eastern half of the continent, is further increased.


Bureau climatologists will continue to closely monitor conditions in the tropical Pacific as well as model outlooks for further developments.



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Tuesday, 4 October 2022

Royal Commission into the Robot Debt Scheme, Public Hearing 1, excerpt of that section of the transcript giving an outline of what is understood concerning the establishment, design and implementation of the Robodebt Scheme

 

In which Senior Counsel Assisting the Commissioner outlines what is understood concerning the establishment, design and implementation of the Robodebt Scheme at this point in the Royal Commission…...


Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, Public Hearing 1, Transcript of Proceedings, 27 September 2022, excerpt: 


MR GREGGERY: Commissioner, I appear today with Mr Angus Scott, Ms Renee Berry and Ms Salwa Marsh. The Attorney-General appointed each of us to assist this Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme as it is described in the Letters Patent.


Less than five weeks ago the Prime Minister announced the establishment of the Royal Commission, and an even shorter period of time has passed since the engagement of counsel assisting the Commission, our instructing solicitors and the appointment of Commission staff. The date by which the Commission is to report, as you have just identified, Commissioner, is 18 April 2023 and there is an obvious need for focus and efficiency to complete the task by the due date.


I will outline the broad context for the nature and scope of the inquiry before I address how the Commission will operate.


Turning firstly to the context for the inquiry, this Commission is not tasked with replicating the various inquiries and investigations into the Robodebt Scheme which have taken place, although much of the content of those inquiries is relevant to the scope of the Commission under the Letters Patent. The reports which have been produced from those inquiries and investigations are also relevant, at least to the history of the Robodebt Scheme and decisions to continue it.


The Letters Patent direct the Commissioner to inquire into the specific factual matters which are set out, with a focus on the “decisions and actions taken or not taken by those in positions of seniority”. The factual inquiry with its focus upon the role played by those in positions of seniority will be the basis upon which the Commission makes recommendations it considers appropriate. Those recommendations may include recommendations needed to prevent a recurrence of any failures of public administration which are identified in this inquiry.


The reference in the Letters Patent to the identification and prevention of the recurrence of any “failures of public administration” bears close similarity to a phrase which appears in the reasons of Justice Murphy of the Federal Court when his Honour approved the settlement of the class action brought in respect of the debts raised and collected by the Robodebt Scheme. His Honour's, reasons published on 11 June 2021, included the observation that those proceedings “… exposed a shameful chapter in the administration of 10 the Commonwealth's social security system and a massive failure of public administration”.


The reasons for judgment in the settlement of the class action are, as I indicated earlier, one of the many previous findings of others which are relevant to the Commission's task. The decision of Justice Murphy marked a significant occasion when the Australian Government 15 admitted that asserted debts based solely on income averaging from Australian Taxation Office data were not validly established.


In that context, the Commission is to enquire into a number of specific matters which were read out at the commencement of this initial hearing. In summary: the establishment, design and implementation of the Robodebt Scheme which raised and recovered debts for the Australian Government and which it later admitted it could not validly establish; who was responsible for the scheme and why they considered it necessary or desirable; the use of third party debt collectors in the scheme; the responses to concerns raised about the scheme, the systems implemented to address those concerns and what was known by persons in seniority as the basis for those responses; and the intended and actual outcomes of the scheme.


Can I turn now to what is known about the Robodebt Scheme. The Commission has already started its work and I will provide a brief overview of some of the relevant events which ultimately concluded with the admission made by the Australian Government to which I referred earlier.


The existence of Centrelink and its role is common knowledge amongst members of the public. It is the service delivery agency for a majority of Australia's social welfare payments.


In 1991 it gained the ability to crossmatch its data with data from the Australian Taxation Office. Crossmatching data enabled Centrelink to compare income declared to the ATO with income declared to Centrelink by persons who claim social welfare payments. The ATO continued to provide data to Centrelink since that time under various processes. For the purpose of this inquiry, the ATO disclosed income information to Centrelink which reflected the income information provided to the ATO by employers in the form of a PAYG summary. That summary often covered the whole of the financial year but in some cases the information related to a shorter period of time within the financial year. In contrast to the information provided to the ATO by an employer, Centrelink required information which usually related to a person's actual fortnightly income when it decided whether a person was entitled to social security payments.


Prior to the implementation of the Robodebt Scheme Centrelink's calculation of overpayments or debts by analysing the ATO data and the Centrelink records involved direct human oversight by compliance officers according to the processes established within Centrelink. That process included the requirement that “evidence was required to support the claim that a legally recoverable debt exists”.


Debts which were established according to Centrelink's processes were able to be recovered in a variety of ways, including withholding social security payments or a portion of those repayments, the garnishee of annual tax returns and orders made on successful criminal prosecution for debts which amounted to a fraud against the Commonwealth. Often the overpayment of social security resulting in a debt did not involve dishonesty, although the allegation of a debt can attract the stigma of fraud. The complexity of Australia's social welfare system was the subject of at least one report publicly released in February 2015. That report directly addressed the many types of social welfare payments, the related complexity of the claims and administration processes in respect of each payment.


On 1 July 2011 Centrelink was absorbed into the Department of Human Services. The Department of Human Services was responsible for the administration of the social welfare system through Centrelink. The Department was renamed Services Australia in May 2019, but its function of administering the social welfare system through Centrelink remained unchanged.


Going back to 2011, a Government initiative announced improvements to the debt recovery process which included the automation of crossmatched data between Centrelink and the ATO on a daily basis. That automation was expected to increase the ability of the Government to identify and then recover debts. The Commission understands that the identification of a debt continued to be subject to Centrelink's processes which involved compliance officers using Centrelink's statutory powers to obtain evidence from employers and other sources to sufficiently and therefore validly raise a debt. The decision to raise a debt turned on the assessment by a compliance officer after undertaking that investigation.


From 2011 the data matching program identified approximately 300,000 discrepancies annually between the ATO data and the Centrelink data, and of those approximately 20,000 were the subject of assessment and decisions by a compliance officer.


In 2013 the Department of Social Services was created. It replaced the majority of the functions of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.


The Department of Social Services worked closely with the Department of Human Services. Broadly speaking, the Department of Social Services was responsible for the development of social policy advice for the Australian Government, which was administered by the Department of Human Services through Centrelink.


On 12 February 2015, according to the report of the Commonwealth Ombudsman into the Robodebt Scheme dated April 2017, the Department of Human Services sent an executive minute to the Minister For Social Services which was copied to the Minister for Human Services. That Executive Minute proposed a new online approach to compliance with the social security system which would allow the Department of Human Services to review all discrepancies going back in time to the 2010-2011 financial year. The new online approach to compliance was soon described as the Online Compliance Intervention Scheme. It was the first form of the Robodebt Scheme. That Executive Minute must have been produced after some planning, but it has not yet been made public by the Australian Government. According to the Ombudsman's report, the intended main efficiencies of the Robodebt Scheme reflected in the executive minute by identifying discrepancies between the ATO data and the Centrelink data were as follows: The capacity to undertake hundreds of thousands of compliance interventions automatically generating letters to customers notifying them of the discrepancy in reported income; relieving Centrelink of its responsibility from obtaining information from employers and third parties pursuant to its statutory powers before raising a debt; transferring the responsibility of proving a debt from Centrelink to a customer who then had the responsibility of disproving a debt; and moving much of the debt management process to an online process in which customers had to enter information directly into the online system.


The scheme was foreshadowed in a press release in May 2015 by the then Minister for the Department of Social Services in conjunction with a budget release of the 2015-2016 Budget Measures by the then Treasurer. The scheme was projected to create savings of $1.7 billion over five years.


A small two-stage pilot program was carried out in 2015, and the scheme commenced on 1 July 2016. It was fully implemented two months later, on 1 September 2016.


There were a number of flaws in the system which, if not actually known at the commencement, were publicly identified soon after the implementation of the scheme. The flaws, including the fundamental flaw which was admitted by the Australian Government in the Federal Court, were specifically drawn to the attention of the then Minister for Human Services by the Australian Council of Social Service, ACOSS, in their letter of 21 December 2016. That letter identified consistent reports of debt creation by averaging annual income over 26 fortnights contrary to the actual fortnightly entitlement test with the consequence of “a false notice of overpayment”. In a follow-up letter to the Minister on 19 January 2017, ACOSS called for an immediate end to the automated debt recovery system and reiterated its deeply held concerns that the scheme involved the following: The reversal of the onus of proof onto people receiving payments; a failure to properly investigate the accuracy of automated data matching; a lack of human involvement in the detection of and calculation of overpayments; the requirement for people to gather evidence from up to six years earlier; an automated debt recovery and deduction of amounts from people's income support without human intervention; and practical difficulties for recipients speaking with a Centrelink staff member.


The Robodebt Scheme continued from that point in time for almost three years until November 2019. On 28 February 2017, the financial assumptions underlying the objectives of the Robodebt Scheme were questioned in a report produced by the Auditor-General. Questions too were raised about the budget assumptions on which the financial objectives of the scheme were based.


Those questions are relevant to the scope of the topic of the intended and actual outcomes of the scheme in a financial sense, and also to the questions of the process in which the scheme was developed.


The Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the AAT, is the tribunal which decides appeals against Robodebt decisions amongst others. On 8 March 2017, a Member of the Tribunal decided an application to review an automatically generated debt under the Robodebt Scheme. The debt was set aside by the tribunal member on the basis that there was no evidence of a debt. The Decision was remitted to Centrelink to decide afresh according to further directions. Those directions were two-fold: No debt or debt component is able to be found on extrapolations from ATO records; and the earnings component of recalculated debts as may be raised must be based on and confined to any fortnightly salary records obtainable in the exercise of Centrelink's statutory powers.


In short, the legal framework for the AAT's decision on the merits of the debt was that the online compliance process involving income averaging did not provide evidence of a debt. That finding ought to have been of significance to the departments of social services and human services because of its pre-Robodebt policy which required evidence “to support the claim that a legally recoverable debt exists”.


More AAT decisions followed to the same effect. The Commission expects to receive evidence that more than twenty such decisions of the AAT were delivered up to 30 May 2017 in which it was found that income averaging based on ATO data did not validly establish a social security debt.


The Department of Human Services made changes to some aspects of the online compliance system to overcome other inadequacies in the transparency and usability of the online system, however, the fundamental flaw remained.


In the face of public questions about the process, Ministers and those in senior roles in the Australian Public Service asserted that the system worked well.


On 2 March 2018, the Robodebt Scheme alleged a debt against Deanna Amato who then applied for declarations in the Federal Court, including that the debt was not lawfully raised.


On 27 November 2019 orders were made with the consent of the Australian Government to the effect that the demand for payment of the alleged debt was not validly made to Ms Amato because the information relied upon was not capable of proving a debt. That is the declaration referred to in the Letters Patent. On 18 November 2019, that is less than two weeks before the Government consented to the order in Ms Amato's case, Services Australia - formally the Department of Human Services - announced that it would not raise debts in sole reliance of apportioned ATO data, that is averaged income.


On 20 November 2019, the class action was commenced in the Federal Court.


It was a further six months before Services Australia announced it would repay approximately $721 million in debts raised by the Robodebt Scheme against approximately 381,000 Australians and it was in July 2020 when it announced that it would withdraw all debts raised of approximately $398 million based on income averaging from Australian Taxation Office data.


The settlement of the class action involved the remaining claims for interest and costs which amounted to a further $112 million to be paid by the Australian Government. The reasons of the Court referred to evidence which showed that the Commonwealth Government asserted debts totalling at least $1.7 billion against 453,000 Australians during the life of the Robodebt Scheme.


That brief overview provides a sufficient factual context for the specific questions which are set out in the Letters Patent. That said, we are aware of the temptation to prejudge matters based on previous reports and inquiries and we will avoid doing so. Counsel assisting will consider the subjects of this inquiry with fresh eyes to assist the Commission to determine these matters according to your position of independence.

[my yellow highlighting]


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Monday, 3 October 2022

COVID-19 Pandemic State of Play Australia September-October 2022: in which three prominent medical professionals give their views


Below are statements made by Professor Brendan Crabb an infectious disease researcher at the Burnet Institute, Dr. Paul Kelly Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Government and an honorary professor at ANU Medical School and, Professor Steve Robson President of the Australian Medical Association.

Two of these men expressed medical opinions of the current status and possible progression of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The third man expressed a political opinion on the situation.

I leave it North Coast Voices readers to decide for themselves which of these three is the man with a narrow political view of this pandemic......



ABC News, 30 September 2022:


Rules forcing people to isolate for five days if they test positive to COVID-19 will end from October 14 for everyone, with support for some workers to be able to continue isolation if needed.


States will determine how to implement the change, but national cabinet agreed to continue targeted financial support for casual workers in aged care, disability care, Aboriginal health care and hospital care.


Support payments for people infected with COVID-19 who are not in those sectors will also end from October 14, with payments that continue to be funded equally by the Commonwealth and individual states or territories.


Scrapping mandatory isolation marks the end of one of the last remaining pandemic restrictions.


COVID-19 deaths soaring in aged care


The vast majority of COVID-19 aged care deaths have occurred this year, but some worry we've started looking the other way.


Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said he was asked to provide advice on whether isolation periods should be scrapped, and said he recognised there were low rates of COVID-19 transmission and high vaccination rates.


"It does not in any way suggest that the pandemic is finished," he said.


"We will almost certainly see future peaks of the virus into the future, as we have seen earlier in this year.


"However, at the moment, we have very low rates of … cases, hospitalisations, intensive care admissions, aged-care outbreaks and various other measures that we have been following very closely."…..


Professor Kelly's advice to national cabinet noted that "continued capacity to surge the response if required" remained a necessary consideration…...



The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 October 2022:


Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson warned that dropping the requirement for COVID patients to isolate for five days could potentially lead to new waves of infection.


“Whenever there’s a new wave it has an enormous effect on hospital capacity,” Robson said. “If you are in a vulnerable place, just wear a mask. If you do get sick, try and minimise transmission by isolating.


“And while this is going on, let’s rethink how we can organise better air circulation and ventilation.“


Robson also urged people to remain vigilant about vaccination. “People aren’t bothering to have boosters, we’ve got waning immunity in a big way,” he said.


He said that hospitalisations were currently low because so many people had COVID over the past few months – but that number would rise as people become reinfected.


“The COVID numbers look artificially low because the government has made it harder to get a PCR, and no one gives a rat about RATs,” he said.


Robson, who was voted president of the medical body in August, earlier conceded that attitudes to the virus had shifted since the beginning of the pandemic, but said that any approach that involved ″⁣living with COVID″⁣ meant simultaneously increasing the capacity of health systems across the country……


Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation assistant secretary Lori-Anne Sharp said if more variants of the virus emerged, there would be extra pressure on hospitals…...


BACKGROUND


Globally, as of 6:20pm CEST, 30 September 2022, there have been a cumulative total of 614,385,693 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,522,600 deaths, reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO). A total of 325,602 new confirmed cases and 1,668 COVID-19 deaths were reported to WHO in that same 24 hour reporting period.


In the Western Pacific Region which includes Australia on 28 September 2022 there were 92,674 new confirmed cases and 120 COVID-19 deaths. It should be noted that the Western Pacific Region is sometimes characterised by WHO as lagging in reporting COVID-19 infection data.


While in Australia the federal Dept. of Health’s latest report available on 30 September 2022 was for COVID-19 data as a cumulative infection count for 2022 only and a ‘trends’ count of 7 day averages as at 27 September 2022.


Leaving other sources to reveal Australia’s COVID-19 data for the 7 days up to 30 September 2022 as:


A total of 39,564 new confirmed COVID-19 cases including 282 deaths. A total of 1, 563 people in hospital with COVID-19 infection of which 46 were in intensive care units. The national infection rate stood at 0.94.

Included in this count over 7 days were 12,592 new confirmed cases in New South Wales including 82 COVID-19 deaths. As well as 1,057 people hospitalised with COVID-19 infection of which 24 were in intensive care units. [Prof. Adrian Esterman, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of South Australia, writing as @profesterman]


As of 28 September 2022 a total of 16,161,728 individuals aged 5 to 90+ years had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in an Australian population of 25,890,773 people (Australian Bureau of Statistics March 2022). Only 4,879,507 individuals were fully vaccinated with four doses. Those numbers represents a mere 62.4% and 18.84% respectively of the total population. 

On 28 September 2022 people were being infected with COVID-19 and re-infected across the entire age range of the population.


It should be noted that from July-August 2020 onwards there have been reliable media reports that there is an ongoing and significant under reporting of COVID-19 infection in Australia and its state and territories.


An 8 September 2022 Public Statement by Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC), the key decision-making committee for health emergencies. It is comprised of all state and territory Chief Health Officers and chaired by the Australian Chief Medical Officer:


The AHPPC notes the need for a proportionate approach to isolation for those with COVID-19 infections at this stage of the pandemic. The AHPPC further notes that while balancing a proportionate approach to isolation for all Australians, it is important to ensure the continued protection of those most vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19 especially in settings where there is increased risk of outbreaks occuring.


Noting this, while COVID-19 cases with no symptoms after five days may leave isolation, the AHPPC strongly advises that these individuals should be excluded from attending high-risk settings (such as residential aged care facilities, disability care facilities and hospitals) until at least seven days following their positive test result and they remain symptom-free. This applies to both staff and visitors.


It remains important for people who continue to have respiratory symptoms after five days following a positive test to continue to isolate until symptoms have resolved.


For those who test positive to COVID-19, please refer to your state or territory website for information about the period of infectiousness, what symptom-free means, how to access antiviral treatment and the steps you can take to reduce the risk of infecting others.


No changes are recommended to the management of close contacts. Close contacts should continue to monitor for symptoms, avoid high-risk settings, wear a mask when outside the home, test for COVID-19 and stay at home should symptoms develop.


The AHPPC notes the importance of workplaces in using a workplace safety framework whilst implementing this transition, and reiterates the shared responsibility of all Australians in minimising the ongoing impact of COVID-19.


The AHPPC continues to reiterate the importance of other risk mitigating strategies to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on individuals and the community. This includes the following:


  • Ensure you are up to date with recommended vaccinations;

  • Stay home if you are unwell, and get tested;

  • Speak to your healthcare professional about eligibility for treatments should you become unwell with COVID-19;

  • Consider wearing a mask when outside your home and especially when in crowded, indoor environments such as public transport;

  • Keep indoor spaces well ventilated;

  • Practise good respiratory and hand hygiene.


NOTE: Concerning Dr. Paul Kelly's unsupported letter of advice to the Prime Minister, dated 29 September 2022.



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Sunday, 2 October 2022

In the face of mounting evidence that Meta Platforms Inc (formerly Facebook Inc) is a bad actor on the global social media stage, it remains a puzzle as to why so many well-intentioned community groups still use the Facebook platform

 

Amnesty International, What’s New, 28 September 2022:


MYANMAR: FACEBOOK’S SYSTEMS PROMOTED VIOLENCE AGAINST ROHINGYA – META OWES REPARATIONS


Facebook owner Meta’s dangerous algorithms and reckless pursuit of profit substantially contributed to the

atrocities perpetrated by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya people in 2017, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.


The Social Atrocity: Meta and the right to remedy for the Rohingya, details how Meta knew or should have known that Facebook’s algorithmic systems were supercharging the spread of harmful anti-Rohingya content in Myanmar, but the company still failed to act.


“In 2017, the Rohingya were killed, tortured, raped, and displaced in the thousands as part of the Myanmar security forces’ campaign of ethnic cleansing. In the months and years leading up to the atrocities, Facebook’s algorithms were intensifying a storm of hatred against the Rohingya which contributed to real-world violence,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.


“While the Myanmar military was committing crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, Meta was profiting from the echo chamber of hatred created by its hate-spiralling algorithms.

AGNÈS CALLAMARD, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S SECRETARY GENERAL


“Meta must be held to account. The company now has a responsibility to provide reparations to all those who suffered the violent consequences of their reckless actions.”


Sawyeddollah, a 21-year-old Rohingya refugee, told Amnesty International: “I saw a lot of horrible things on Facebook. And I just thought that the people who posted that were bad… Then I realized that it is not only these people – the posters – but Facebook is also responsible. Facebook is helping them by not taking care of their platform.”


The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority based in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State. In August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine when the Myanmar security forces launched a targeted campaign of widespread and systematic murder, rape and burning of homes. The violence followed decades of state-sponsored discrimination, persecution, and oppression against the Rohingya that amounts to apartheid.


An anti-Rohingya echo chamber


Meta uses engagement-based algorithmic systems to power Facebook’s news feed, ranking, recommendation and groups features, shaping what is seen on the platform. Meta profits when Facebook users stay on the platform as long as possible, by selling more targeted advertising. The display of inflammatory content – including that which advocates hatred, constituting incitement to violence, hostility and discrimination – is an effective way of keeping people on the platform longer. As such, the promotion and amplification of this type of content is key to the surveillance-based business model of Facebook.


In the months and years prior to the crackdown, Facebook in Myanmar had become an echo chamber of anti-Rohingya content. Actors linked to the Myanmar military and radical Buddhist nationalist groups flooded the platform with anti-Muslim content, posting disinformation claiming there was going to be an impending Muslim takeover, and portraying the Rohingya as “invaders”.


In one post that was shared more than 1,000 times, a Muslim human rights defender was pictured and described as a “national traitor”. The comments left on the post included threatening and racist messages, including ‘He is a Muslim. Muslims are dogs and need to be shot’, and ‘Don’t leave him alive. Remove his whole race. Time is ticking’.


Content inciting violence and discrimination went to the very top of Myanmar’s military and civilian leadership. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of Myanmar’s military, posted on his Facebook page in 2017: “We openly declare that absolutely, our country has no Rohingya race.” He went on to seize power in a coup in February 2021.


In July 2022, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that it has jurisdiction to proceed with a case against the Myanmar government under the Genocide Convention based on Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya. Amnesty International welcomes this vital step towards holding the Myanmar government to account and continues to call for senior members of the Myanmar military to be brought to justice for their role in crimes against the Rohingya.


In 2014, Meta attempted to support an anti-hate initiative known as ‘Panzagar’ or ‘flower speech’ by creating a sticker pack for Facebook users to post in response to content which advocated violence or discrimination. The stickers bore messages such as, ‘Think before you share’ and ‘Don’t be the cause of violence’.


However, activists soon noticed that the stickers were having unintended consequences. Facebook’s algorithms interpreted the use of these stickers as a sign that people were enjoying a post and began promoting them. Instead of diminishing the number of people who saw a post advocating hatred, the stickers actually made the posts more visible.


The UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar ultimately concluded that the “role of social media [was] significant” in the atrocities in a country where “Facebook is the Internet”.


Mohamed Showife, a Rohingya activist, said: “The Rohingya just dream of living in the same way as other people in this world… but you, Facebook, you destroyed our dream.”


Facebook’s failure to act


The report details how Meta repeatedly failed to conduct appropriate human rights due diligence on its operations in Myanmar, despite its responsibility under international standards to do so.


Internal studies dating back to 2012 indicated that Meta knew its algorithms could result in serious real-world harms. In 2016, Meta’s own research clearly acknowledged that “our recommendation systems grow the problem” of extremism.


Meta received repeated communications and visits by local civil society activists between 2012 and 2017 when the company was warned that it risked contributing to extreme violence. In 2014, the Myanmar authorities even temporarily blocked Facebook because of the platform’s role in triggering an outbreak of ethnic violence in Mandalay. However, Meta repeatedly failed to heed the warnings, and also consistently failed to enforce its own policies on hate speech.


Amnesty International’s investigation includes analysis of new evidence from the ‘Facebook Papers’ – a cache of internal documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen.


In one internal document dated August 2019, one Meta employee wrote: “We have evidence from a variety of sources that hate speech, divisive political speech, and misinformation on Facebook… are affecting societies around the world. We also have compelling evidence that our core product mechanics, such as virality, recommendations, and optimizing for engagement, are a significant part of why these types of speech flourish on the platform.”


‘Meta must pay’


Amnesty International is today launching a new campaign calling for Meta Platforms, Inc. to meet the Rohingya’s demands for remediation.


Today marks the first anniversary of the murder of prominent activist Mohib Ullah, chair of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights. Mohib was at the forefront of community efforts to hold Meta accountable.


Rohingya refugee groups have made direct requests to Meta to provide remedy by funding a USD $1 million education project in the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The funding request represents just 0.002% of Meta’s profits of $46.7 billion from 2021. In February 2021, Meta rejected the Rohingya community’s request, stating: “Facebook doesn’t directly engage in philanthropic activities.”


Showkutara, a 22-year-old Rohingya woman and youth activist, told Amnesty International: “Facebook must pay. If they do not, we will go to every court in the world. We will never give up in our struggle.”


There are at least three active complaints seeking remediation for the Rohingya from Meta. Civil legal proceedings were filed against the company in December 2021 in both the United Kingdom and the USA. Rohingya refugee youth groups have also filed an OECD case against Meta which is currently under consideration by the US’ OECD National Contact Point.


“Meta has a responsibility under international human rights standards to remediate the terrible harm suffered by the Rohingya that they contributed to. The findings should raise the alarm that Meta risks contributing to further serious human rights abuses, unless it makes fundamental changes to its business model and algorithms,” said Agnès Callamard.


“Urgent, wide-ranging reforms to their algorithmic systems to prevent abuses and increase transparency are desperately needed to ensure that Meta’s history with the Rohingya does not repeat itself elsewhere in the world, especially where ethnic violence is simmering.”


“Ultimately, States must now help to protect human rights by introducing and enforcing effective legislation to rein in surveillance-based business models across the technology sector. Big Tech has proven itself incapable of doing so when it has such enormous profits at stake.”


On 20 May 2022, Amnesty International wrote to Meta regarding the company’s actions in relation to its business activities in Myanmar before and during the 2017 atrocities. Meta responded that it could not provide information concerning the period leading up to 2017 because the company is “currently engaged in litigation proceedings in relation to related matters”.


On 14 June 2022, Amnesty International again wrote to Meta regarding the relevant allegations contained in the report, and to give the company the opportunity to respond. Meta declined to comment.


BACKGROUND

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Saturday, 1 October 2022

Enshrining a First Nations Voice in the Australian Constitution


https://youtu.be/5gF6DqYH6FE


"We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart": https://ulurustatemdev.wpengine.com/the-statement/view-the-statement/


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Tweets of the Week

 

 

 

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Cartoon of the Week


Cathy Wilcox



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