Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

A new court order is being abused in order to harass a journalist

 

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH! Media’s dwindling role in Democracy Panel

Toxic “Safety” orders the latest tool to shut down free speech  https://www.michaelwest.com.au/toxic-safety-orders-the-latest-tool-to-shut-down-free-speech/, by Michael West — 25 October 2019 It’s #YourRightToKnow. There are many ways to silence the media: persecution of whistleblowers, defamation threats, contempt of court claims, lobbying of media bosses by powerful interests, injurious falsehood claims, the government’s draconian secrecy laws and police raids on journalists. Michael West reports on the latest abuse against free speech.

Today we can unveil yet another threat to freedom of speech: the Personal Safety Intervention Order (PSIO), a court order which is intended to help victims of domestic violence but instead is being abused as a tool to harass journalists, namely Sandi Keane, Editor of this publication.

It’s #YourRightToKnow. There are many ways to silence the media: persecution of whistleblowers, defamation threats, contempt of court claims, lobbying of media bosses by powerful interests, injurious falsehood claims, the government’s draconian secrecy laws and police raids on journalists. Michael West reports on the latest abuse against free speech.

Today we can unveil yet another threat to freedom of speech: the Personal Safety Intervention Order (PSIO), a court order which is intended to help victims of domestic violence but instead is being abused as a tool to harass journalists, namely Sandi Keane, Editor of this publication.

There have been some reports about the abuse of Personal Safety Intervention Orders in Victoria by those seeking malicious revenge. The editor of this journal, Sandi Keane, is believed to be the first journalist to be silenced in this way. She’s attended court seven times after receiving two Orders and has been threatened with a third. “An Intervention Order is now a sure fire way to shut down a story,” says Keane. “Getting an Intervention Order in Victoria is instant and cost-free (no lawyer required).”

The two essential criteria are for applicants to claim they have been threatened and are suffering mental stress as result.

An Interim Order will be issued immediately against anyone in Australia.

Sandi Keane says the applicants lied about the threats but no evidence was needed until the Final Contested Hearing some 12-18 months later.

The effect on public interest reporting therefore is chilling as most news is time-critical, so by the time the story might eventually be published, its news value might have evaporated.

There are no consequences for abusing the legal system and costs cannot be claimed by the Respondent in the proceedings.

The Applicant can also manipulate the date of the final hearing as a magistrate will only set a date for the Final Hearing if both sides have had a chance to get a lawyer; are ready for the hearing; or agree to the date.

Furthermore, court reporters cannot report on an Intervention Order unless they withhold the name of the court and names of the relevant parties.

So, not only does an Intervention Order trump an Injunction in the High Court with all its attendant costs and adverse publicity, it also ticks the Suppression Order box.

Yet the sting in the tail is that, from the date of the Interim Order, all references to the “protected person” must be deleted from any media site including social media (Condition 10).

Journalists can forget about getting another colleague to publish the story as this is prohibited under Condition 8.

Breaching the order risks a criminal conviction or prison sentence.

Journalists union, the Media Arts and Entertainment Alliance (MEAA), has met with the Victorian Attorney General with the hope of amending the Personal Safety Intervention Order Act to protect freedom of the press. In a letter to the Chief Magistrate, the MEAA wrote:

“This is a dangerous assault on press freedom, has a chilling effect on legitimate journalism in the public interest and undermines the public’s right to know.”

Editor’s Note:

Sandi Keane’s investigation was into the fraudsters operating in the pedigree dog industry. She was successful in contesting one of these orders. The unsuccessful Applicant in this case had served a jail sentence for fraud and was also found guilty of arson. The other applicant also has a conviction for fraud. These two people have taken out five PSIOs of which we know. The others were granted against people who had taken legal action against them, made an official complaint or given evidence against them.

The rise of PSIOs, and their abuse, coincides with the rise in other forms of suppression of free speech in Australia, by all three branches of government: the judiciary, the executive and the legislature.

It’s time to enshrine free speech in the constitution such as is the case in the US. You can take action to stand up for your right to know. Check out MEAA’s Take Action site here.

October 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, civil liberties, legal, media, secrets and lies | Leave a comment

Attorney General Christian Porter backs laws that restrict journalists’ reporting

October 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, legal, media, politics | Leave a comment

Farmers, traditional owners and ratepayers unite in anti-nuclear rally,

Farmers, traditional owners and ratepayers unite in anti-nuclear rally, Transcontinental,  Amy Green, 25 Oct 19,

  Farmers, traditional owners and ratepayers rallied together yesterday against the federal government’s plan for a national nuclear storage facility in their communities.

The rally began in Gladstone Square, before stopping outside Stuart MP Dan van Holst Pellekaan’s office to deliver a letter from Green’s senator Sarah Hansen Young.

The enthusiastic cohort continued their march to the Eastside Foreshore.

Kimba resident Terry Schmucker owns a farm in Cootra, close to the proposed Napandee site on the Eyre Peninsula.

He spoke passionately at the rally about the potential affects a radioactive waste management facility could have on the farming industry.

“The decision to put radioactive waste on farmland is wrong,” Mr Schmucker said.

“Farmland is valuable. If you take out as little as 160 hectares, that’s still farmland that’s gone and that’s along with the mining that’s happening, that’s along with urban sprawl, that’s a long with everything … We need to protect our farmland.”

Grains and oilseeds are Australia’s largest category of food exports, representing 24 per cent of total agricultural exports.

Strict industry guidelines make Australian growers highly competitive internationally, while also supplying high-quality products for domestic consumption……..

“We are also pretty isolated on grain marketing and we grow really good produce but the buyers don’t want to pay us a good price, so they will use any excuse to discount us. All they have got to say is that there’s radioactive waste right next to us, here’s $50 a tonne less.

“So whether it actually affects our produce is not actually the important bit, it’s all in the head for people who wind us down and bargain with us on price.”

Adnyamathanha woman Vivienne McKenzie also attended the rally, speaking on behalf of traditional  owners in the Flinders Ranges.

Wallerberdina station near Barndioota in the Flinders Ranges is one of the three remaining potential sites for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility.

The Seven Sisters songline, one of the most significant creation tracks throughout Australia, runs nearby this site.

Songlines explain the laws desert people live by, the origins of country and are a crucial element of Aboriginal culture.

“It’s a very, very important site for the women The Seven Sisters is because that is the first storyline up there in the Flinders Ranges that’s been recorded anywhere and it was tabled in the state parliament of South Australia,” Ms McKenzie said.

“Its like if you have a book and someone rips a page out, it takes away from the story that you’re given.

“It’s desecration, and we are trying to preserve those songlines for generations to come. “The Adnyamathanha people aren’t recognised in their own Country, they can’t even get a vote.” https://www.transcontinental.com.au/story/6456928/farmers-traditional-owners-and-ratepayers-unite-in-anti-nuclear-rally/

October 26, 2019 Posted by | Federal nuclear waste dump, Opposition to nuclear, South Australia | Leave a comment

South Australian Labor comes out swinging against nuclear waste dump selection process

October 26, 2019 Posted by | politics, South Australia | Leave a comment

Radioactive liquids in Olympic Dam waste pools are killing native birds

Olympic Dam Alert: BHP propose a major new Evaporation Pond 6 for radioactive acid liquor wastes that will continue deaths of hundreds of birds each year

The federal government are inviting comments on BHP’s “Olympic Dam Evaporation Pond 6 EPBC Act Referral 2019/8526”  (scroll down to Date of Notice 21/10/2019).

Public submissions are only open until cob Monday 4th Nov 2019, see info on how to do so at end of this e-mail.

Please consider making a brief submission, key Recommendations are provided below, along with a Background Briefing Paper and a feature press article “BHP vs Birds”.

For info see “Migratory Birds at Risk of Mortality if BHP Continues Use of Evaporation Ponds” a 3 page Briefing written by David Noonan for the ACF, Friends of the Earth and Conservation SA (30 June 2019), at https://nuclear.foe.org.au/wp-content/uploads/ODM-Migratory-Birds-BHP-Evaporation-Ponds.pdf

see “BIRDS VS BHP: Evaporation ponds at BHP’s Olympic Dam mine are killing hundreds of birds” article in The Advertiser 10 July 2019

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/evaporation-ponds-at-bhps-olympic-dam-mine-are-killing-hundreds-of-birds/news-story/1b886e4946f87fb7a729e201282f5cfb

October 26, 2019 Posted by | environment, South Australia, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Can the Australian government impose a nuclear waste dump on South Australia?

Under section 109 of the Australian Constitution, if a state parliament and the federal Parliament pass conflicting laws on the same subject, then the federal law overrides the state law. Section 122 of the Constitution allows the federal Parliament to override a territory law at any time

October 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, reference | Leave a comment

The failure of nuclear reprocessing and the “Plutonium Economy”

October 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, technology, wastes | Leave a comment

Why we can’t trust Scott Morrison – his REAL climate policy

to cut a long story short, Morrison has signed a document with Pacific leaders, with the “family”, that suggests we are as one when it comes to managing the risks of climate change, yet in reality we have very different policies, goals and objectives.

It pays to remember things like this when our prime minister asks you to trust him. 

October 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics international | Leave a comment

Climate change and the prospects this year for the Darling River

October 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming | Leave a comment

As in South Australia, indigenous people in USA oppose “temporary” nuclear waste storage, and its transport dangers

Native American Pueblo leaders oppose nuclear facility near Carlsbad, Hobbs,   https://www.oilandgas360.com/native-american-pueblo-leaders-oppose-nuclear-facility-near-carlsbad-hobbs-2/  in Press   by— 360 Feed Wire

Native American Pueblo leaders oppose nuclear facility near Carlsbad, Hobbs

Oct. 24– Oct. 24–A group of Native American leaders opposed a plan to temporarily store nuclear waste at proposed facilities in southeast New Mexico and West Texas before a permanent repository is available.

The All Pueblo Council of Governors, which represents 20 sovereign nations in New Mexico and Texas held a meeting on Thursday where members affirmed their opposition to the projects, read a Monday news release from the group.

Concerns with the transportation of spent nuclear fuel rods drove the group’s opposition to two proposed consolidated interim storage (CIS) sites, one near the border of Eddy and Lea counties in New Mexico and another in Andrews, Texas. Continue reading

October 26, 2019 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

Angus Taylor repeats misleading claim on carbon emissions yet again

October 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

Governments increasingly able to manipulate social media

governments have a long history of trying to manipulate the media,” and are steadily moving into the realm of social media.
Facebook’s gigantic user base and its design make it an enormously influential media organization, one that can make or break politicians’ chances.
there is one rule for the powerful and quite another for the rest of us, and how the big social media platforms are increasingly acting like arms of Western governments, adopting their perspectives on what are and are not acceptable political viewpoints.
Media Ignore Unmasking of Twitter Exec as British Psyops Officer  https://fair.org/home/media-ignore-unmasking-of-twitter-exec-as-british-psyops-officer/comment-page-1/#comment-3169114  

Government penetration and control over media of little interest to those who are subject to it, ALAN MACLEOD, 24 Oct 19, A recent investigation from independent news outlet Middle East Eye (9/30/19) uncovered that a senior Twitter executive is, in fact, an officer in the British Army’s 77th Brigade, a unit dedicated to psychological operations (psyops), propaganda and online warfare.

Gordon MacMillan, who joined the social media company in 2013, is its head of editorial for the Middle East and North Africa. While both Twitter and the British Army attempted to distance themselves from the implications of the report, it is unclear why MacMillan would have this role if not to manipulate and propagandize the public. (The British Ministry of Defense describes psyops as a way of getting “the enemy, or other target audience, to think and act in a way which will be to our advantage”—BBC6/20/08.)

For media so committed to covering news of foreign interference with US public opinion online (see FAIR.org, 8/24/16, 12/13/17, 7/27/18), the response was distinctly muted. Continue reading

October 26, 2019 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

October 25 Energy News — geoharvey

Opinion: ¶ “Nuclear Industry’s $23 Billion Bailout Request Shows Why It Should Have ‘No Role To Play’ In Solving Climate Crisis: Study” • A proposed bailout of the US nuclear power industry that could cost $23 billion over ten years shows clearly why the climate crisis needs solutions that focus on renewable resources, Friends of […]

via October 25 Energy News — geoharvey

October 26, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Townsville shopping centre builds “Australia’s biggest” solar car park — RenewEconomy

A 1.5MW, 500-space solar car park is being installed by commercial solar company Epho at the Willows Shopping Centre in Townsville, Queensland. The post Townsville shopping centre builds “Australia’s biggest” solar car park appeared first on RenewEconomy.

via Townsville shopping centre builds “Australia’s biggest” solar car park — RenewEconomy

October 26, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

ARENA-backed project trials “net zero energy” homes in Melbourne — RenewEconomy

ARENA backs Mirvac housing project in Melbourne to demonstrate the feasibility of building solar and battery powered “net zero energy” homes at scale. The post ARENA-backed project trials “net zero energy” homes in Melbourne appeared first on RenewEconomy.

via ARENA-backed project trials “net zero energy” homes in Melbourne — RenewEconomy

October 26, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment