Australia

[Dave from down under]

A politician rorting the system... no way...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-31/ ... /100040142

South Australian MP Fraser Ellis has faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court this morning charged with 23 counts of deception.

Key points:
Former Liberal MP Fraser Ellis is accused of making 78 fraudulent claims for the Country Members Accommodation Allowance
Mr Ellis says he will plead not guilty to the charges
He returns to court in May

[Foggy]

Oh cool, I learned a new word - rorting. Never heard that before, but I like it.

[Dave from down under]

One of my favourites is...

Quango



It gets some use much as a junket does..

https://www.themandarin.com.au/125268-q ... ew-wilkie/

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Quangoand rorting sound like words my mama wouldn't let me say.

[Eaststander]

One of my favourites is...

Quango



It gets some use much as a junket does..

https://www.themandarin.com.au/125268-q ... ew-wilkie/

I believe it stands for ‘Quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation’. Not that that makes me much wiser.

[Dave from down under]

What do they do?

Why it’s a Ver well known quango that is addressing rorting of travel entitlements by first hand investigation through experience of a wide variety of junkets.

[keith]

Quango's are set up to provide services in an 'arms length' fashion.

One example might be the Post Office. In organization and governance it is a private 'company', and theoretically operates independently. But its 'Board of Directors' are political appointees that can be fired by the government (with certain limitations of course).

[keith]

But there is no problem with football

Byron Bay Bluesfest cancellation over COVID case angers music industry and fans

[keith]

Apparantly 75% of all calls to the ABC (Australian) switchboard the other day were in protest that The Prince Phillip death news interrupted "Vera".

I must admit that I was a bit miffed - even if SWMBO insisted we had already seen the episode.

I'll find a link to the story when I get home to a real keyboard.

EDIT: here is the link to the Australian story: ABC says 75% of complaints about Prince Philip coverage related to interruption of TV drama Vera

[Uninformed]

It’s not just Australia.

“BBC 'receives 100,000 complaints' over Prince Philip coverage”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-56721078

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-13/ ... /100064328

Sydney university student Pablo Bonilla, 21, had his first academic paper published overnight and it might just change the shape of computing forever.

Key points:
Pablo Bonilla's code has caught the interest of researchers at US universities and tech giant Amazon
The code is a small modification to one that has been studied for 20 years
Mr Bonilla completed HSC-level maths at age 15 and was invited to work on a University of Sydney project

[Dave from down under]

Me: 25 years on, are they the best, of course not, they can always be better, but they will never be perfect (unfortunately), a national firearms registry should have been in place for the last 25 years!


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-28/ ... /100095178

Port Arthur massacre: 25 years on, are gun laws the best they can be?

The Port Arthur Massacre changed Tasmania, and the nation, forever.

Key points:
Today marks 25 years since the Port Arthur massacre, and the sweeping gun reforms that came with it
Gun control advocates are concerned reform has been "chipped away" at over recent years
The federal government says it is open to working with states to deliver a national firearms registry

In 1997, Australia had 6.52 licensed firearm owners per 100 people, but by last year that proportion had almost halved, to 3.41.
The number of registered guns in the community has risen only slightly, despite the importation of modern firearms and population growth.

[Dave from down under]

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2021-04- ... /100105532

5 meters is about 18 feet long

Rangers in Kakadu National Park are scouring waterways for a crocodile that attacked a group of four people fishing at night last weekend.

Key points:

A possible five metre crocodile launched into a boat and attacked the seat a man was sitting on
Rangers are searching for the “problem” crocodile
A Wollongong man has been treated for minor injuries

[zekeb]

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2021-04- ... /100105532

5 meters is about 18 feet long

Rangers in Kakadu National Park are scouring waterways for a crocodile that attacked a group of four people fishing at night last weekend.

Key points:

A possible five metre crocodile launched into a boat and attacked the seat a man was sitting on
Rangers are searching for the “problem” crocodile
A Wollongong man has been treated for minor injuries

Was he a bagman who jumped into the billabong?

[RVInit]

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2021-04- ... /100105532

5 meters is about 18 feet long

Rangers in Kakadu National Park are scouring waterways for a crocodile that attacked a group of four people fishing at night last weekend.

Key points:

A possible five metre crocodile launched into a boat and attacked the seat a man was sitting on
Rangers are searching for the “problem” crocodile
A Wollongong man has been treated for minor injuries

Was he a bagman who jumped into the billabong?

I thinks it's a swagman.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

This reminds me of a similar story from Africa.

https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/americans ... d=12366087

'Devastated' American Kayakers Survive Congo Croc Attack
Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic watched in horror as guide was killed.

ABUJA, Nigeria Dec. 10, 2010— -- A pair of American kayakers who escaped a crocodile attack that killed their famed guide are "devastated" by the death of Hendrik Coetzee.

Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic could only watch in horror as a crocodile snatched Coetzee, 35, from his kayak on Tuesday as the three men paddled on the Lukuga River in Congo.

The body of Coetzee, an acclaimed outdoorsman who wrote a blog called "The Great White Explorer," has not been recovered. The stretch of river where the trio was traveling is notoriously dangerous because of its whitewater, and numerous crocodiles and hippos.

[Lani]

Far-right extremism threats thrown at Labor senator, warnings issued
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/04 ... 2020210430

Senator Kristina Keneally has vowed Australia’s democracy will not be undermined by far-right extremism, as a Parliamentary inquiry heard she’d been the target of “terrible” abuse from neo-Nazi groups over her criticism of the fast-growing threat.

It comes as online safety experts warn extremists are now using dating apps and gaming sites to recruit members, as pandemic-induced isolation and loneliness makes young Australians an easier target for far-right groups.

“Given the growth we’ve seen in nationalist and racist violent extremism, we anticipate there will be a terrorist attack in this country in the next 12 months,” Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess warned.

In a long day of evidence, Australian Federal Police called for the criminalisation of extremist insignia like Nazi symbols, ISIL flags and manifestos left behind by terrorists, with officers claiming there was a “gap” in their ability to disrupt potential attacks.

Mr Burgess noted far-right activity was difficult to define, potentially encompassing sentiments including neo-Nazis, ‘incels’ or violent misogynists, anti-Semites, Islamophobes, anti-Indigenous and anti-Asians.

[Dave from down under]

Newcastle road rage incident sees 'predator' driver sentenced to 28 months' jail

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/ ... /100107054

It was pandemonium in inner-city Newcastle during the morning peak when a road rage driver wreaked havoc at a busy intersection.

Key points:
Kristianne Bycroft has been sentenced to 28 months' jails for her "predatory" and "erratic" driving
The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to five charges after shunting through traffic and ramming a hatchback in November
Bycroft told Newcastle Local Court she rammed the car as its driver owed her $300
Kristianne Bycroft, 29, was behind the wheel of a white utility when she rammed a yellow hatchback on November 13, 2020.

Bycroft told Newcastle Local Court she did so, as the driver of that car owed her $300.

After ramming the vehicle, Bycroft shunted through cars, then hit a moving vehicle and fishtailed away.

Police charged her within hours of the road rage incident, with footage filmed by witnesses going viral on social media around the world.

Earlier this year, Bycroft pleaded guilty to five charges, including predatory driving and using/possessing or attempting/threatening to use an offensive weapon (her utility) to commit an indictable offence.

In addition, she admitted to driving recklessly/furiously in a speed/manner dangerous, not giving particulars to other driver, and possessing a prohibited drug.

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/ ... /100105902

Sixty thousand years ago, when rhino-sized wombats, giant echidnas and carnivorous kangaroos roamed the country, Aboriginal Australians were just making their way onto the shores.

Key points:
Aboriginal Australians arrived on the shores of a larger continent around 60,000 years ago
Researchers say they moved across it on 'super-highways' similar to modern transport routes
While not exact, researchers hope Aboriginal communities can help fill in the gaps of their work

Australia's first people are thought to have arrived when the continent was a much bigger place, with lower sea levels connecting Papua New Guinea and Tasmania to what we now know as modern Australia, forming the mega-continent of Sahul.

New research from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage shows the paths that were likely trodden by the ancient Aboriginal people as they moved across the continent from the Kimberley to Tasmania.

[zekeb]

I prefer the Australian National Anthem to ours. It tells an inclusive story of who is Australian. Our National Anthem merely describes a single battle and says nothing about who we are.

[Lani]

I prefer the Australian National Anthem to ours. It tells an inclusive story of who is Australian. Our National Anthem merely describes a single battle and says nothing about who we are.

And it's more singable than ours!

[Dave from down under]

National anthems are interesting

They do say a lot about how the nation sees itself and how it wants to be seen.

Our rocks because it has “girt by sea”

It has also lost the verse about Albion sons etc.
No loss there..

And this year it has been changed to acknowledge that Australians have been here 60,000 years and so not “young”

Old version - Australians let us rejoice, for we are young and free.
In the new version, we’ll sing - we are one and free.

[Volkonski]

Australian couple stuck in Texas for over a year due to pandemic desperate to go home: 'I'm slowly dying'

https://abc13.com/10564224/?ex_cid=TA_K ... ce=twitter

An Australian man and his wife said they are desperate to get home to Melbourne after their flight was canceled more than a year ago.

"This is where we stay at. It's easier for Andre. Everything's compact, and he can hold onto a lot of things, and this is where we've been staying," said Melissa Rivenell as she walked around their RV in her mother's backyard.



What the Rivenells could barely afford at the beginning of the pandemic is now out of the question.

The urgency to get back to Australia is growing after Andre suffered a stroke this past December 2020.

[keith]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/ ... /100105902

Sixty thousand years ago, when rhino-sized wombats, giant echidnas and carnivorous kangaroos roamed the country, Aboriginal Australians were just making their way onto the shores.

Key points:
Aboriginal Australians arrived on the shores of a larger continent around 60,000 years ago
Researchers say they moved across it on 'super-highways' similar to modern transport routes
While not exact, researchers hope Aboriginal communities can help fill in the gaps of their work

Australia's first people are thought to have arrived when the continent was a much bigger place, with lower sea levels connecting Papua New Guinea and Tasmania to what we now know as modern Australia, forming the mega-continent of Sahul.

New research from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage shows the paths that were likely trodden by the ancient Aboriginal people as they moved across the continent from the Kimberley to Tasmania.

Hey, Dave... they are talking about this right now on Radio National. Ooohhhh! Stocastic Models! I swoon!

[Dave from down under]