Have you perhaps been wondering to what degree the health and wellbeing of women & girls will be valued as the global patriarchal structure shudders under the ongoing environmental, geopolitical, economic, and social shocks flowing from climate change? You are not the only one.

The Lancet

Vol 404 August 24, 2024

Many crises, one call to action: advancing gender equality in health in response to polycrises

Rajat Khosla, Gita Sen,

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,

Winnie Byanyima, Sima Bahous,

Debora Diniz, et al.

Published: July 24, 2024

The state of polycrises linked to concurrent conflict, climate catastrophe, the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing HIV epidemic, and geopolitical, economic, and social shocks is a cause of deep concern for the global health community. Polycrises, including the ongoing atrocities in Gaza, Sudan, and Myanmar, political movements in different countries that threaten to over-turn human rights and climate laws, or the flash floods in Bangladesh, Brazil, and Tanzania, have led to a new era likely to worsen gender inequalities and health challenges in terms of scale, severity, and complexity. Not only have these crises laid bare injustices and entrenched gender-based intersectional inequalities that exist in health, but they have also deepened and widened health disparities within and across countries, with differences starkly marked along lines of income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, and geographical location, among other factors.1

Taking stock of the gendered impact of polycrises is the first step towards forging a collective response from governments and the global health community. Globally, women make up the majority of extreme poor among people aged 15 years and older, with the gender poverty gap forecast to widen by 2030.2 Disproportionate job losses and limited access to financial resources in a climate of economic insecurity have pushed women into precarious work environments, jeopardising their health, integrity, and safety.3 The responsibilities of caregiving also intensifies during polycrises, with women and girls taking on greater responsibilities, including childcare, care of ill or dependent persons, and older persons care, and frequently neglecting their own health needs.4, 5 Clinic closures, resource shortages, and displacement due to crises disproportionately affect women's access to health services, such as reproductive health care, prenatal care, and safe childbirth.6 Even some high-income nations are among the 19 countries that had a higher maternal mortality ratio in 2020 compared with 1990. 7 Furthermore, conflict, climate displacement, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are contributing to concerning increases in gender-based violence and harmful practices such as child, early, and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and son preference.7

The adverse impacts of polycrises on women's and girls' rights and health extend to their crucial roles as health workers. Women, who make up almost 70% of the global health workforce and 90% of nurses and midwives, are the front line of the health system; they deliver vital health services during crises and are often exposed to violence, especially in places affected by conflict.8, 9 Yet women in the health workforce are usually inadequately paid, insufficiently valued, and under-represented in leadership and decision-making positions.10

Alongside polycrises, there have been unprecedented attacks on the bodily autonomy, choices, and human rights of women and girls.7 Globally organised movements have mobilised against laws related to access to safe abortion and contraception, LGBTQI+ rights, and comprehensive sexuality education.7 This is visible in different forms, ranging from increasing levels of violence, hate speech, and misinformation campaigns to difficulties accessing funding for health and human rights organisations and the introduction of regressive laws or failure to eliminate discriminatory laws and policies.11

In this climate of competing priorities and recurrent crises, governments, UN agencies, donors, and civil society groups collectively hold immense power to ensure action is taken to advance and prioritise women's rights, gender equality, and human rights, including the right to health. This approach is paramount for mitigating and preventing the deepening of future crises.12 Evidence indicates that narrowing the gap in women's health would avoid 24 million life-years lost due to disability, add more than US$1 trillion to the global economy, and increase economic productivity by up to $400 billion.13 However, these investments need to be combined with enabling legislation and support for gender equality in health, including bodily autonomy and integrity more broadly. In this context, it is only through true collective action that we can bring about the changes that are direly needed. In particular, our joint efforts need to focus on three key areas.

First, funding and increased support are needed to strengthen investments, partnerships, and research led by grass-roots communities and feminist and women-led civil society organisations. Communities, notably, feminist and women-led civil society groups, hold a rich understanding of how crises play out and affect gender disparities, health, and rights of communities. They are well placed to document and deepen our understanding of this impact and identify contextually relevant solutions to advance gender equality and rights. During a crisis feminist and women-led organisations are also often directly involved in the provision of health services, including sexual and reproductive health services and information, in contexts where public goods and services are limited or no longer available.14, 15 Despite widespread evidence of the essential roles of feminist civil society and movements, investments in community-led research and partnerships are shrinking and being deprioritised in the context of polycrises.16, 17 Governments, UN agencies, and donors must act now and reverse this trend.

Second, policies are needed to support alignment across institutions and struggles for equality and rights. Fragmentation is happening at multiple levels and includes disjointed systems that promote siloes, competition, or polarisation between movements striving for gender equality and women's rights.18, 19 These challenges can manifest as the frequent exclusion of ministries of finance in discussions to ensure the right to health and wellbeing of women and girls, or as hostile attacks between gender equality and rights-based movements that unfold on social media platforms, quickly degenerating into the use of stigmatising labels and exclusionary language. Irrespective of how this fragmentation develops, it is fuelling mistrust and creating restrictive environments that hinder meaningful collaboration and collective action. It is imperative that collective efforts better integrate systems and processes and build links across struggles, particularly the multiple intersections of inequalities.

Third, financial responses at global, regional, and national levels need to be formulated so that they support gender equality and women's rights. Current financial responses during crises frequently impede the upholding of human rights and in turn deepen income inequalities.20 For instance, immense pressure on governments to focus on austerity policies and debt repayments during and after crises detracts from investments in essential public services and in communities that have been most impacted.20 The global financial architecture, right down to national budgets and ministries of health and finance, needs to have a more deliberate approach to investing in gender-related issues and women's rights to ensure support is provided to the communities and groups most affected by crises. Learning from and with feminist financing models offers a strong baseline to build from.21, 22 Not only will this approach support short-term stabilisation during crises, but it will also build long-term resilience and equity in resource mobilisation and allocation.

Global overlapping crises are worsening gender equality and health disparities. Addressing these issues requires us to unite political, health, and civil society leadership efforts towards reinforcing community-driven partnerships, reforming financial and health strategies to support equality, and integrating systems to create cohesive responses. Now is the crucial moment to act.

1 World Economic Forum. The global risks report 2023. 2023. https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-risks-report-2023/ (accessed July 8, 2024).

2 UN Women. From insights to action: gender equality in the wake of COVID-19. 2020. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/09/gender-equality-in-the-wake-of-covid-19 (accessed July 8, 2024).

3 International Labour Organization. Policy brief: a gender-responsive employment recovery: building back fairer. 2020. https://www.ilo.org/publications/gender-responsive-employment-recovery-building-back-fairer (accessed July 8, 2024).

4 UN Women. Gender alert: the gendered impact of the crisis in Gaza.2024. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/202401/Gender%20Alert%20The%20Gendered%20Impact%20of%20the%20Crisis%20in%20 Gaza.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

5 Power K. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the care burden of women and families. Sustainability Sci Pract Policy 2020; 16: 67–73.

6 World Economic Forum. Why we need more female voices while addressing humanitarian crises. 2022. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/05/listening-to-female-voices-can-stop-humanitarian-crises-harmingwomen-s-and-girls-health/ (accessed July 8, 2024).

7 UNFPA. Interwoven lives, threads of hope: ending inequalities in sexual and reproductive health and rights. 2024. https://www.unfpa.org/ swp2024 (accessed July 8, 2024).

8 Ignacio AR, Sales K, Tamayo RL. Seeking gender equality in the global health workforce. Think Global Health. March 8, 2024. https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/seeking-gender-equality-global-healthworkforce (accessed July 8, 2024).

9 WHO, Global Health Workforce Network, Women in Global Health. Closing the leadership gap: gender equity and leadership in the global health and care workforce. 2021. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240025905 (accessed July 8, 2024).

10 Phillips G, Kendino M, Brolan CE, et al. Women on the frontline: exploring the gendered experience for Pacific healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Reg Health West Pac 2023; 42: 100961.

11 Petersen MJ. Religion, gender, and sexuality: three points on freedom of religion or belief. BYU Law International Center for Law and Religion Studies. Nov 21, 2022. https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2022/11/21/religiongender-and-sexuality/ (accessed July 8, 2024).

12 Percival V, Thoms OT, Oppenheim B, et al. The Lancet Commission on peaceful societies through health equity and gender equality. Lancet 2023; 402: 1661–722.

13 World Economic Forum. Closing the women’s health gap: a $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies. 2024. https://www.weforum.org/publications/closing-the-women-s-health-gap-a-1-trillionopportunity-to-improve-lives-and-economies/ (accessed July 8, 2024).

14 UN. Human Rights Council. A/HRC/47/38: women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health rights in crisis. Report of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls. April 28, 2021. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc4738-womens-and-girlssexual-and-reproductive-health-rights-crisis (accessed July 8, 2024).

15 UN Women. Gender alert: voices of strength: contributions of Palestinian women-led organizations to the humanitarian response in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 2024. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/06/gender-alert-voices-of-strength-contributions-ofpalestinian-women-led-organizations-to-the-humanitarian-response-inthe-occupied-palestinian-territory (accessed July 8, 2024).

16 The Young Feminist Fund, The Association for Women’s Rights in Development’s Young Feminist Activism Program. The global state of young feminist organizing. 2016. https://youngfeministfund.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/05/Global-State-of-Young-Feminist-Organizing.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

17 Aho E, Grinde J. Shrinking space for civil society—challenges in implementing the 2030 Agenda. Forum SYD. 2017. https://www.forumciv.org/sites/ default/files/2018-03/Shrinking-Space%20%20Challenges%20in%20implementing%20the%202030%20agenda.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

18 UN Women. Discussion paper. Democratic backsliding and the backlash against women’s rights: understanding the current challenges for feminist politics. 2020. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2020/Discussion-paper-Democratic-backsliding-and-the-backlash-againstwomens-rights-en.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

19 Touimi-Benjelloun Z, Sandler J. Collective power for gender equality: an unfinished agenda for the UN. 2022. United Nations University International Institute for Global Health. August, 2022. http://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:8897/Collective_Power_for_Gender_Equality.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

20 UN. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. A world of debt report 2024: a growing burden to global prosperity. 2024. https://unctad.org/publication/world-of-debt (accessed July 8, 2024).

21 International Labour Organization, UN Women. Financing social protection: feminist alternatives to austerity. 2023. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/financing_social_protection_en.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

22 Hessini L. Financing for gender equality and women’s rights: the role of feminist funds. Gender Development 2020; 28: 357–76.

 

STATE OF PLAY NSW NORTHERN RIVERS 2024: The risk of property uninsurability continues to concern the region

 

When record flood events hit south-east Queensland and Northern New South Wales in the first quarter of 2022 the Australian insurance industry was already dealing with est. 85,953 open insurance claims, driven by six declared insurance events that occurred in 2021 [Insurance Council of Australia, November 2023].

In September 2022 the Insurance Council of Australia observed:

The south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales flood has so far cost the insurance industry $5.28 billion – almost triple the cost of the 2011 Brisbane floods and now the second most costly extreme weather event in Australia’s history.

At that point in time the Insurance Council was asserting that:

At present no region in Australia is uninsurable, however worsening extreme weather events are driving up premiums in parts of the country most exposed to extreme weather risk and rendering insurance unaffordable for some.

A neat piece of hair splitting made despite the fact that three months before, the Climate Council had issued a media release highlighting an analysis indicating that:

One in 25 Australian properties will be effectively uninsurable by 2030, due to rising risks of extreme weather and climate change.

An analysis which, in breaking the Northern Rivers region into the two federal electorates which encompass its land mass, predicted that in the Richmond electorate 20% or 22,274 properties were at "high risk" while up to 11% or 11,691 properties were at "high risk" in the Page electorate.

In Yamba alone, in the Clarence Valley section of the Page electorate, in a worst case scenario 5,237 properties are likely to become progressively uninsurable across a 70 year span commencing in 2030. A number that would contain all residential dwellings and other buildings in present day Yamba. 

While the Lismore City section of the Richmond electorate, in a worst case scenario is likely to see 5,711 properties become uninsurable over the same time period.

In the two years since the Insurance Council's statement the word "uninsurable" has continued to crop up in discussions concerning flood prone land and existing homes that had been built on such land - and as a region we have continued to twist this way and that trying to comes to terms with a grim reality.

The National Insurance Brokers Association in its October 2023 short submission to the federal parliamentary Inquiry into insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims was frank it its assessment of the insurance situation for so many households:

Increasing insurance losses due to more frequent natural disasters, as well as changes to actuarial and underwriting models and underlying risk profiles, have resulted in significant increases in insurance premiums in many parts of the country.....

The paradox of insurance is that those who are most impacted by natural perils, i.e. low socioeconomic households, are least likely to be able to afford to protect themselves from the effects of such events. Uninsurability has the potential to exacerbate existing inequalities by trapping vulnerable populations in high-risk areas and exposing them to greater social harm. Low socioeconomic households are less likely to be able to recover from natural disasters due to lower household incomes and less secure work. Low socioeconomic households are also more likely to be engaged in part-time or casual work. This demonstrates that the impacts of uninsurability will disproportionately affect those who are least able to protect themselves against these impacts.

The issue continues to be problematic for the NSW Northern Rivers region.......

Echo, 23 August 2024:

Insurance isn’t something that you necessarily have front of your mind most of the time but when you lose your house in a flood it suddenly takes on a whole new importance.

Insurance means that you have the opportunity to rebuild, to try to put your life back together – but flood insurance is not available to everyone, particularly those in flood risk areas and leaves them extremely vulnerable following natural disasters such as the 2022 flood.

Flood rubbish around You Are Here sign in Lismore, 7 March 2022. Photo David Lowe.

For a town like Lismore, and many others around the world, this lack of insurance means that they are unable to effectively rebuild following floods. The Inquiry into insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims has highlighted that ‘areas with low insurance cover have significantly worse post-disaster outcomes that negatively impact households, local businesses, and local economies’.

This Inquiry was commissioned by the then NRRC for the Community Leaders Forum that was led by Lismore MP Janelle Saffin, NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Recovery and made up of State MPs Tamara Smith (Ballina), Geoff Provest (Tweed), and Richie Williamson (Clarence); Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan; and mayors Cr Steve Krieg (Lismore City), Cr Chris Cherry (Tweed Shire), Cr Kylie Webster (Kyogle), Cr Michael Lyon (Byron Shire), Cr Sharon Cadwallader (Ballina Shire), Cr Robert Mustow (Richmond Valley) and Cr Peter Johnstone (Clarence Valley).

‘I thank its authors, academics from the University of Queensland’s Business School – Professor Paula Jarzabkowski, Dr Katie Meissner and Dr Matthew Mason – who are very learned in this area,’ Ms Saffin said.

‘They have made a case study of Lismore that can be extrapolated across the Northern Rivers region, New South Wales, and indeed, other places in Australia....

...Whatever is done, government needs to be very involved in the response, and we must require mitigation and adaptation to be in the mix,’ she said.

Ms Saffin has made a submission, on behalf of the Community Leaders Forum to the Federal inquiry into insurers’ responses to the 2022 major floods claims utilising this report as the basis for that submission.

‘This analysis shows that the current problem of insurability will remain a wicked problem for Lismore, with no foreseeable reduction in the pricing of private sector flood insurance,’ states the report.

‘Without access to affordable insurance:

• Lismore property owners will struggle to attain or maintain mortgages;

• Lismore landlords will struggle to provide a robust residential or commercial rental market;

• Lismore businesses are likely to have their credit and growth compromised;

• The commercial attractiveness of Lismore is likely to suffer.’

Mitigation, relocation and adaptation key

Ms Saffin noted that the submission found that there is no single, per-existing solution for the complex problem of uninsurability in Lismore.

It makes four recommendations about the potential of a new insurance ecosystem for Lismore:

1. A national risk pool is a tested solution that, when well-designed, could support affordable insurance in Lismore for residents and small businesses providing it is accompanied by a medium and long-term program of risk reduction including relocation.

2. Small parametric products, which can be spent flexibly by policyholders, have potential to provide economic benefit to Lismore business owners supporting them with rapid response to business interruptions, particularly from small-scale events.

3. Parts of Lismore fall within the uninsurable zone and could be considered for insurance innovations to support planned migration and provide insurance cover during any transitionary period.

4. Lismore residents and business owners will benefit from a sustained program of embedding risk management capabilities throughout the community to support them in reducing their risk and increasing their financial ability to respond to hazards.

Cartoons of the Week

 

This month in the Australian Parliament.....

Glen LeLievre

Cathy Wilcox

David Pope

By May 2025 will this particular Australian House of Representatives near, match or exceed the standing order suspension records of the parliaments which went before it?

 

On Wednesday, 21 August 2024 the Albanese Labor Government introduced a Bill to Parliament to establish the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC) as, in the words of the Minister, an independent workplace investigation and sanctions framework that will enforce behaviour codes for Parliamentarians, MOPS staff and other people who work in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.

On a first reading, the bill does not appear to intend to capture the type of disruptive behaviour common in the House of Representatives' Questions Without Notice (Question Time). Perhaps intending to leave it to The Speaker's discretion to decide if a referral to the IPSC is warranted.

According to The Guardian on Wednesday, 21 August 2024 new research shows that in the Australian House of Representatives elected members of parliament have been ejected from the Chamber by The Speaker a total of 198 times in the 47th Federal Parliament, as of 20 August.

It appears that:

• 161 of theses instances were as a result of bad behaviour on the part of Opposition Coalition MPs (103 being identified as Liberals, 9 as Nationals, 43 as Liberal-National, with another 51 not differentiated in published media articles);

• 36 instances were the result of Government Labor MPs behaving in similar fashion; and

• in a single instance one Greens MP also lost the plot and was sent out.

There are another nine months left before this parliament ends and, one suspects that the Coalition Opposition will become more vocal & disruptive as the 2025 federal general election draws nearer.

Will this particular House of Representatives near, match or exceed the standing order suspension records of the House during the eight of the nine parliaments between 1996 and 2022?

Recent history in the House of Representatives

Across four terms of the Australian Parliament beginning in 1996 with the 38th Parliament followed by the 39th, 40th & 41st (Howard Coalition Government), there was total of 513 instances where The Speaker named & suspended or sin binned members of the House of Representatives. Beginning with double digit numbers which grew into the hundreds by the third & fourth terms. [personal research]

During the 42nd Parliament (Rudd & Gillard Labor Government) there appears to have been 168 instances in which The Speaker named & suspended or sin binned members of the House of Representatives. [personal research]

During the 43rd Parliament (Gillard & Rudd Government) there were three Speakers, Harry Jenkins from 14.09.2010 to 24.11.2011 Peter Slipper from 24.11.2011 to 9.10.2012 and Anna Burke from 9.10.2012 to 5.8.2013.

In the period of their collective speakerships there appears to have been 278 instances where MPs were named & suspended or sin binned [personal research based on available data].

During the 44th Parliament  (Abbott & Turnbull Coalition Government) the Speaker ordered members to leave the House of Representatives on 524 occasions, an increase of 88.5 per cent from the 43rd Parliament when 278 members were ejected. On eight occasions members were named and suspended, 515 were ‘sin binned’ (ordered to leave the Chamber under SO 94) for one hour, and one was ordered from the Federation Chamber for 15 minutes. The 44th Parliament saw a record of 18 members ejected on a single day (Thursday 27 November 2014) and the ejection from the Federation Chamber was the first on record.....

The vast proportion of disciplinary actions were ‘sin binnings’, accounting for over 98 per cent in both the 43rd and 44th parliaments. Most disciplinary actions occurred during and after Question Time in the period from 2 pm to 4 pm...

Opposition members, irrespective of which party they belonged to, have always accounted for the largest proportion of disciplinary actions across all parliaments since Federation, at a rate of about 92.5 per cent.....

The 44th Parliament was presided over by Speakers Bishop and Smith. Under Mrs Bishop’s speakership, 402 members were ejected at a rate of about three per day, the highest of any speakership.

During the 45th Parliament (Turnbull & Morrison Coalition Government) the Speaker imposed sanctions against disorderly behaviour by directing members to leave the HoR on 415 occasions under SO 94(a). This is a decrease of 20 per cent from the 44th Parliament, when members were ejected from the House 515 times for one hour.

The 415 ejections involved disorderly members being ‘sin binned,’ or ordered to leave the Chamber for one hour but no members were named and suspended for 24 hours under SO 94(b). On two occasions members were directed to leave the Federation Chamber for 15 minutes under SO 187(b).....

the majority of suspensions (sanctions against disorderly conduct) occurred during Question Time.

During the 46th Parliament (Morrison Coalition Government) the format was changed to 28 periodic review reports produced between 10 July 2019 and 1 April 2022. These reports no longer included a section titled "Suspensions".

NOTE: My yellow highlighting throughout this post.

AUGUST 2024: a reminder to motorists that the endangered Coastal Emu has new chicks moving across paddocks & local roads in the Clarence Valley

The Daily Examiner online, 21 August 2024:

Ryan Walsh took this photo of endangered coastal emus near Grafton in the Northern Rivers.

There’s less than 50 coastal emus left on the planet – all living in a relatively small area of the Northern Rivers – so it’s no wonder locals are quite protective.

As young chicks start to emerge at this time of year, adding slightly to the endangered population, the community is on high alert – sharing updates and urging motorists to slow down.

Ryan Walsh has shared a dramatic image of three of the rare emus snapped on McIntyres Lane, at Gulmarrad near a highway overpass north of Grafton in the early evening. Mr Walsh warned motorists to keep a look out for the large birds on the move.

The emus cover large distances to forage and often cross roads in their travels, where they face a stark risk of being struck by cars and other vehicles.

“Yeah, the locals are very protective because we don’t want to lose our beautiful emus,” Mr Walsh said.

“There is one emu sign on the approach to the bridge – it’s dangerous, as coming from the opposite side you wouldn’t have seen them until you were on them.”

Clarence Valley Council urges landholders to install emu-friendly fencing that can help the last of the endangered animals survive and hopefully thrive.

Clarence Valley Council collaborates with the state government and several community groups including Coastal Emu Alliance on programs to try and save the coastal emu from extinction.

Work includes a citizen science tracking project and a campaign pushing for the use of more emu-friendly fencing......

Coastal emus remaining in the Clarence region are generally found between Red Rock and Evans Head, with a key hotspot in the Brooms Head area.

A coastal emu with chicks. Picture: Caring for Our Coastal Emus / Clarence Conversations

As part of council efforts to warn motorists, signs have been placed across the region. There’s even two large solar powered flashing lights using radar to detect and warn approaching vehicles installed along a key seven kilometre stretch of Brooms Head Rd.

While residents do their best to safeguard the emus, chicks have been emerging after being ‘brooded’ (basically sat on gently to keep warm, as smaller birds do too) for eight weeks by the males, who will continue to raise the chicks.

Locals like Lou Law noticed the first chicks of the season emerging this week and shared rare photos of one male – “Kevin” – and his tiny brood to keep the community in the loop.

“The kids are excited to see Kevin with his babies – they are so tiny you have to zoom right in to see them,” Ms Law posted on social media.....

And Northern Rivers koalas continue to die on our roads.....

"Your paws in my hands...my reality as koala rescuer." 

A video by LinguIna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIzHTHuIJ7Q

Echo, 20 August 2024:

Many locals and kids from Byron Bay and Suffolk Park were devastated at the news that Moji, the koala they had all been watching and caring for over the past several months, was found dead on the road this morning.

‘The person who hit Moji didn’t stop to see if he was ok, two young girls kindly moved him off the road and called WIRES,’ said Mark from WIRES. [my yellow highlighting]

Moji the koala is another victim of careless driving. Photo supplied

Moji had taken up residence in trees at the golf club but the scattered feed trees meant he and other koalas have to cross the road to ensure they can get enough to eat.

‘Many locals and kids who used to stop on their bikes and watch him,’ Deb Pearce from the Byron Youth Service (BYS) told The Echo.

‘This morning we received a call about a deceased koala opposite Crystalbrook,’ explained Mark. ‘I quickly rushed over to discover it was Moji. He had been hanging around the golf course for the last couple of months, hadn’t seen him for a while and today he obviously tried to return.

‘I’m absolutely gutted, me and Melissa, a fellow wildlife rescuer, have put many hours trying to keep him and a couple other koalas safe in the area. Bangalow Koalas kindly kept their VMS signs up all this time to warn drivers to slow down. Thanks to the drivers who drove with care and those who weren’t hopefully you can see what it means to those who do care and drive with more caution.’ ......

While I was away..... *WARNING: Contains Graphic Image*

 

A brief look at some items of note during the last ten days.

 

I was in #Gaza in March+testified to @CIJ_ICJ as part of gen0side case against #Israel

Today, #EyeWitnessGaza starts with video testimonies of horrors we saw. Campaign demands pinned2 @BenNephrology
This is my first testimony. More health workers2post soon@HA4Palestine@CIJ_ICJ pic.twitter.com/1WGSZjy925

— Ben Thomson 🇵🇸 (@BenNephrology) August 14, 2024

 

“The entire unjust world does not care about this. That’s all I can say.” Heartbreaking testimony in the wake of the killing of newborn twins and their mother in Gaza -- leaving behind a father whose world is shattered. Correspondent @JDiamond1 reports. pic.twitter.com/CKUwLt23sn

— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) August 14, 2024

 

⚠️ GRAPHIC ⚠️

Sorry for bothering you, but things are worst on ground.

Thanks for your tax money. 🥸

⚠️ GRAPHIC ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/mIjYPnSFX5

— Amer Amayreh (@a_amayreh) August 14, 2024

 

On 14 August 2024 the State of Israel's War on Gaza entered its 313th day and, the Palestinian population has suffered more war deaths than the Australian people did during the approx. 2,107 days of the last world war.

A sad comparison

In World War Two 34,000 Australian service personnel were killed along /w 700-1,000 civilians [ABS 1998, Parramatta History and Heritage 2020, Statistica 2024]. These numbers are estimated to be 5% of Australia's total population as of 30 June 1939. 

In the War on Gaza from 7 Oct 2023 up to 14 Aug 2024 a total of 39,965 Palestinians are recorded as killed [UN OCHR August 2024] with est. 11,000 of those killed being children.

NOTE: These UN numbers do not include the thousands missing presumed dead or the as yet unidentified dead stored within the Gaza Strip.

However, the numbers do represent an estimated 2.0% of the Palestinian population residing in the Gaza Strip on 1 September 2023.

As of 20 August 2024 there is no negotiated ceasefire or any timetable for a declaration that the War on Gaza has ended.

Jewish Council Australia, media release, 14 August 2024:

Jewish Council condemns Peter Dutton and Dave Sharma for stoking racism in comments on Palestinians fleeing genocide

August 14, 2024

Today, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told Sky News that no Palestinians from Gaza should be entering Australia and that a visa scheme for Palestinians fleeing Gaza would put Australia’s national security at risk.

These comments were made days after Liberal Party Senator Dave Sharma criticised the government, suggesting that Palestinians entering Australia “might endanger” Australian citizens and “our own democracy.”

These comments cannot be taken in isolation. Only two weeks ago, neo-Nazis held a Trump inspired anti-immigration rally outside Federation Square in Melbourne calling for the mass deportation of immigrants. Rather than clearly distancing themselves from dangerous anti-immigrant sentiment, Peter Dutton and Dave Sharma are only fuelling division.

The Jewish Council rejects any assertion that Palestinians fleeing violence are a threat to the safety of Australians.

Palestinians in Gaza face extreme levels of violence. On Saturday morning, an Israeli attack at the Al-Tabeen School in Gaza City killed at least 100 people, making it one of the deadliest attacks in Israel’s 10 month assault on Gaza. The intensity of the bombing was such that many victims were dismembered beyond recognition. Doctors resorted to collecting body parts in plastic bags, giving families 70 kilos of remains when their loved ones could not be individually identified.

The horrific reality of violence faced by Palestinians in Gaza underlines the need for Australians to do all we can to support and welcome Gazans seeking to enter Australia.

Dr Max Kaiser, historian and Executive Officer

“The rhetoric directed against Palestinian refugees is reminiscent of the same rhetoric used to vilify Jewish refugees in the 1940s and 1950s who were frequently labeled ‘security risks’. This rhetoric is also part of a long history of racism and exclusion in Australia, from the White Australia Policy to panics about ‘boat people’.”

Sarah Schwartz, human rights lawyer and Executive Officer

“Peter Dutton and Dave Sharma should be ashamed of themselves for using anti-immigrant rhetoric to stoke fear and division. It is only weeks since anti-immigrant riots took place in the UK, and neo-Nazis held an anti-immigration rally in Melbourne’s CBD. Politicians should be distancing themselves from all forms of racism and xenophobia not fuelling division.

“The Australian Government should not be influenced by the Israel lobby’s false and racist depictions of Palestinians. Many Jewish people have family histories of fleeing persecution and understand the importance of Australia meeting its obligations under International Law to protect the human rights of refugees.”

Historical background

Rhetoric directed against Palestinian refugees is reminiscent of the same rhetoric used to vilify Jewish refugees in the 1940s and 1950s who were frequently labeled ‘security risks’. T.H. White, Australia’s delegate to the 1938 Evian Conference famously said with reference to German and Austrian Jewish refugees, Australia has "no real racial problem [and is] not desirous of importing one". This rhetoric is also part of a long history of racism and exclusion in Australia, from the White Australia Policy to the War on Terror’s exclusion of people from the Middle East.

Statements by Leader of the Opposition & LNP MP for Dickson, Peter Dutton:

The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 August 2024:

....Dutton on Wednesday decided to push beyond the Coalition’s previous demands for tougher scrutiny of Palestinian refugees, saying: “I don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment. It’s not prudent to do so and I think it puts our national security at risk.”

9 News, 15 August 2024:

"So (the government) said that they will bring people into Australia who are sympathisers with a listed terrorist organisation," Dutton said.

"Could you imagine if we were proposing to bring people in who were sympathetic to another listed terrorist organisation, like al-Qaeda or ISIL or ISIS? It's completely unacceptable.

"You bring 3000 people in, let's say 99 per cent are good.

"If one per cent, 30 people, are questionable or sympathisers with a listed terrorist organisation, how on earth is that in our country's best interests?"

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has previously said that "rhetorical" sympathy for Hamas would not be considered an automatic bar to entry.

Note: Using statistics drawn out of thin air to create hypothetical risk scenarios produces nothing but 'word salad' - especially as the number of Palestinian refugees who have entered Australia since October 2023 is far less than the 3,000 mentioned. A wider lens is required. As an example, between 2014 & 2020, a total of 3,360,650 people entered Australia on migrant visas [ABS, 2021]. If the total number of individuals actually charged with terrorism related offenses within this period had been in that 6 year migrant intake, it would still only have represented an estimated percentage point of 0.003273176320057132% of this statistical cohort.

 

A cartoonist's perspective

Matt Golding

An exchange in the Australian Parliament

House of Representatives, Hansard, 15 August 2024, excerpt:

Ms STEGGALL (Warringah) (09:16): It's extremely concerning to see the opposition turn up today with this suspension of standing orders and the words and the rhetoric that we're hearing here. It goes directly against the advice of ASIO and the concern around the polarisation in our communities—that whipping up of a sense of fear and that inference that, for example, our services and systems are not working. What I'd like to share is the human story, the real story, about some of the people we're talking about and the lives we're talking about.

Mr Conaghan interjecting—

Ms STEGGALL: And I would ask you to be silent! I have the floor!

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Cowper will cease interjecting. The member for Warringah will be heard, just as other members were heard, in silence.

Ms STEGGALL: In 2020, I met a man called Mohammed at the North Steyne Surf Life Saving Club. He had come to Australia under a visa approved by the Morrison government under the same systems. He came to participate in a surf lifesaving skills program. He wanted to give the children of Gaza an opportunity to learn water safety, to not drown, to have something positive on weekends. They loved that program. They attended.

Unfortunately, after the horrendous events of October, that program, of course, ended. The bombing started. Many people that participated in that program have died. Many of the children have died. These are normal families. These are families that you are seeking to paint as all being terrorists, who should all be mistrusted and who are not worthy of humanitarian aid.

Mr Dutton: Complete rubbish! Stop repeating the governments lines.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting.

Ms STEGGALL: We heard you in silence; you can hear me in silence. Stop being racist.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition is seeking the call.

Mr Dutton: That was an offensive and unparliamentary remark and it should be withdrawn.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is far too much noise. As I previously asked for the chamber to be silent, I'm just going to ask the member for Warringah, if she made an unparliamentary remark, to withdraw it to assist the House.

Ms STEGGALL: Could I have a clarification: is a description of language as being racist an unparliamentary remark?

Mr Katter interjecting—

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Kennedy will resume his seat. Just to assist the House so the debate can keep going, as has been previously ruled, I will just ask the member to withdraw and continue. [my yellow highlighting]

The War on Gaza continues

ABC News, 16 August 2024:

The death toll in Gaza from Israel's offensive has surpassed 40,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

It says a total of 40,005 people have been killed and 92,401 injured since October 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel....

The Leader of the Opposition & LNP MP for Dickson continues

The Daily Telegraph, 17 August 2024:

The Nazis tried to conceal their crime of murdering six million Jews. Hamas felt no guilt when they carried out their terrorist attack on October 7. They invaded Israel with body cams and phones to film their butchery of 1200 people – the greatest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 August 2024:

“The advice that I have is that, out of the last 33 people who have been charged with terrorist-related offences in this country, 22 are from second- and third-generation Lebanese Muslim backgrounds,” he said in November 2016.

The comments were widely condemned at the time and last year, in an episode of the ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet, journalist Annabel Crabb put to Dutton that they were racist.

“They’re comments that I shouldn’t have made,” he replied. “I have apologised for that.”

But five leaders of Australia’s Lebanese Muslim community now say they have no recollection of Dutton ever making that apology.

The opposition leader’s office did not respond to multiple enquiries from this masthead about when, how and to whom he said sorry.

[my yellow highlighting]

The pushback by members of the Jewish community in Australia continues