The biotic environment consists of all living beings including microorganisms, plants, and animals. The crisis in the physical environment can easily influence the biotic environment of the biosphere. Human activities have already disturbed the biotic environment.
Pollution (Wikimedia commons)
Science and its sister technology have come to occupy an incomparable place in the various activities of the human social system. Human society developed science and technology to solve problems of human beings but we have started misusing the technology for our own unnecessary benefits. One of the greatest problems human beings are facing today because of sudden developments in science and misusing technology is pollution.
Pollution is a serious and complex issue
The problem of pollution is very complex because food chains and food webs functioning in the biosphere are very complex. It is estimated that the maximum population of human beings use plastics every day at home and outside, it does not matter which type of plastic we are using. We all can start observing the environment-related problems in our own residences and we have to involve all family members in such issues.
Food chains and food webs (YouTube screenshot)
I have also involved my own twelve-year-old daughter, Manikarnika Kaur in the environment awareness programs. This is the appropriate time to prepare or train our next generation for correcting our mistakes and solving environment-related issues.
In recent research, scientists over and done with the fact as any kind of plastic (the plastic products used at homes as shown in the pictures above) can have severe effects on the food web.
Plastic waste and the need for a digital lab for Linguistics
When we feel we need some new perspectives and insights into this area, we can think about making a digital laboratory available to the students of Linguistics and many other applied courses of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Sciences in the universities and colleges.
Digital Lab (Wikimedia Commons)
The Digital Lab is a collection of communication and control tools that enables a teacher to control, monitor, and communicate with the students. It will help the teacher to create courses, activities, examination, and evaluate students’ progress for the desired academic areas /subjects. The lab will allow students to get the best use out of the new eco-friendly materials and with COVID-19 guidelines as possible.
Create a shared distributed infrastructure using plastic waste
The key idea is to construct and operate shared distributed infrastructure by using plastic waste in building materials, acoustic/soundproof plasters and bricks, etc. that aims at making modern digital laboratory resources and relevant technology available to the student-teacher communities of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Sciences.
Plastics can be easily characterised as durable with low volume density and sound-absorbing features thus plastic waste can be utilized as acoustic material for small laboratories of Linguistics. Milan Kolarević et al discussed the acoustic properties of recycled plastic and a proposed digital design of the bricks with sound absorption properties has been given by Guzman and Munno (2015).
Further, many scientists and researchers are continuously working on absorbing the plastic waste in the building construction works. We can also use plastic waste in making roads, cinema halls, commercial buildings, offices etc. What we need is a ‘proper coordination and full cooperation of everyone in the utilization of our own plastic waste’.
Contributing Author: Dr Chander Shekhar Singh is currently an Associate Professor and teacher In-Charge at the Department of Linguistics, Rajdhani College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India. He has to his credit four authored books in Linguistics and one edited book on environmental studies. He has also participated in many campaign programs related to environment awareness issues.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Australian city Melbourne has been ranked at number 21 on a list of the most mispronounced places in the world.
Experts note that the Victorian capital, Melbourne, is correctly pronounced “Mel-buhne”, but many incorrectly pronounce the R.
The language learning platform Preply used Google search data to rank most common searches for how to pronounce place names. It said in a statement:
“Preply has analyzed Google Search data for 68 well-known “hard to pronounce” places around the world. They looked at the places people ask about “How to pronounce” most often. They then ranked each place according to how difficult it is to pronounce by the number of people searching for it.”
Here’s the list of 20 places often mispronounced:
1. Cannes, France
Correct pronunciation: KAN or KAN-uh / Incorrect: CON or CONZ or CON-es
2. River Thames, London, England
Correct pronunciation: TEMZ / Incorrect: THAYMZ
3. Yosemite National Park, USA
Correct pronunciation: yoh-SEH-muh-dee or yoh-SEH-muh-tee / Incorrect: yoh-SEH-mi-nee or YOH-se-might
4. Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Correct pronunciation: LOO-vruh / Incorrect: LOOV or LOO-vray or LOO-vraa or LOO-ver
5. Versailles, France
Correct pronunciation: vair-SIGH / Incorrect: ver-SALES or ver-SAY-les
Australia’s Deakin University has announced its Research Scholarships Program 2023, which offers a 100% tuition fee waiver to 20 high-achieving Indian students for the entire duration of their onshore higher degree by research studies at the university.
Ravneet Pahwa, Vice-President (Global Alliances) and CEO (South Asia), Deakin University, said in a statement that these scholarships are in recognition of “India’s 75th year of Independence and 28 years of Deakin University’s presence and engagement in India.”
She noted:
“Deakin’s Research Scholarships Program aim to provide Indian students with an opportunity to study with our vibrant research community in Australia and pursue meaningful research that can provide solutions to global challenges.”
The scholarship recipients will receive a 100% tuition fee waiver and an annual stipend of up to Rs 15 lacs (almost $26,000) for full-time, on-campus study for up to three years.
Deakin said in a statement that Indian students would also be eligible to receive a one-time relocation allowance of up to Rs 1.5 lacs (almost $2,500) and health insurance cover for their student visa. Deakin notes:
“Through these scholarships, students will be able to re-imagine their careers, connect with industry, and create an impact alongside world-leading researchers at Victoria’s number one university for overall employment.”
Deakin University; Image Source; Deakin South Asia
Professor Julie Owens, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research, Deakin University, said in a statement that Deakin’s focus is on promoting research that has an impact on local and global communities.
She observed:
“Through the Research Scholarships Program, we will provide passionate students with the opportunity to focus on making an original and significant contribution in their chosen area of research.”
Professor Bas Baskaran, Pro Vice-Chancellor International Research Partnerships, Deakin University, adds that Deakin has a deep presence and engagement in India.
Deakin University; Image Source; Deakin South Asia
He says:
“We have had deep connections with India for almost three decades and our collaborations with eminent institutes in the region have led to exceptional innovation and research over the years.”
Deakin University; Image Source; Deakin South Asia
Applications for the scholarship are open for students meeting the below eligibility criteria:
A Master’s degree with at least two-thirds of the degree comprising a thesis graded at 80% and above
A Master’s degree by coursework or graduate diploma, which includes a research project or thesis of 10,000 to 20,000 words, and 80% and above standard and research methodology units
Relevant postgraduate research experience
Independently refereed journal articles, publications, or conference papers
The year 2021 saw a significant rise in the number of Indians who gave up their citizenship. India’s Ministry of Home Affairs released the data which shows 1,63,370 renouncing their citizenship in 2021 as opposed to 85,256 in 2020.
However, the numbers for the year 2019 were at 1,44,017 Indians renouncing their citizenship.
Indian Passport and Australian Visa; Image Source: @CANVA
The Indian government data shows that the United States of America (USA) is on the top of the chart as the most preferred place for Indian citizens to settle down. Indians who received American citizenship increased from 30,828 in 2020 to 78,284 in 2021.
Australia with all its charms has emerged as the second most preferred place in the last year for Indian citizens. As per Indian Ministry of Home Affairs data, 23,533 Indians renounced their citizenship and became Australian citizens. In 2020, this number was significantly low because of lockdowns, that year 13,518 Indians gave up their citizenship for one in Australia.
3.9 lakh Indians renounced citizenship in the last 3 years, 2019 – 2021.
Generally, Canada witnesses a very heavy influx of Indian international students and skilled workers. However, it slipped to number three in the year 2021 with a total of 21,597 choosing the Canadian citizenship over Indian.
Top 10 countries where Indians renounced their citizenship in 2021:
1. United States (78,284 in 2021 from 30,828 in 2020)
2. Australia (23,533 in 2021 from 13,518 in 2020)
3. Canada (21,597 in 2021 from 17,093 in 2020)
4. United Kingdom (14,637 in 2021 from 6,489 in 2020)
5. Italy (5,986 in 2021 from 2,312 in 2020)
6. New Zealand (2,643 in 2021 from 2,116 in 2020)
7. Singapore (2,516 in 2021 from 2,289 in 2020)
8. Germany (2,381 in 2021 from 2,152 in 2020)
9. The Netherlands (2,187 in 2021 from 1,213 in 2020)
10. Sweden (1,841 in 2021 from 1,046 in 2020)
In the last seven-year period between 2015- 2021 over nine lakhs, twenty-four thousand persons renounced their Indian citizenship as per Indian ministries data.
However, among people who gave up Indian citizenship in the last three years (2019-2021) over 43% of the 3.92 lakhs became citizens of the USA rest were divided between dozen other countries.
Fair Work Ombudsman and Paint Splash; Image Source: The Australia Today
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has commenced legal action against the operators of a Melbourne painting business for allegedly failing to comply with a Fair Work Commission order to pay unfair dismissal compensation and comply with a compliance notice to pay annual leave entitlements owed to a migrant worker.
Facing court is Melbourne’s western suburb Tarneit-based Mehtaab Group Pty Ltd, which operates a business trading as Paint Splash, and the company’s sole director and shareholder, Vikramjeet Singh Khalsa.
FWO began an investigation after receiving a request for assistance from an Indian international student Mehtaab Group had employed for almost a year.
In June 2021, the Fair Work Commission found that earlier that year Mehtaab Group unfairly dismissed the worker.
The Fair Work Commission ordered the company to pay the worker $21,491 compensation, plus superannuation, within two weeks. The company allegedly failed to make the payments to her.
The regulator investigated and attempted to secure voluntary compliance but it is alleged that the compensation remains unpaid.
During the investigation, a Fair Work Inspector also formed a belief that Mehtaab Group failed to pay the worker’s accrued but untaken annual leave entitlements when it dismissed her.
In September 2021, the inspector issued Mehtaab Group a Compliance Notice, which required the company to calculate and back-pay any outstanding entitlements owed to the worker.
The Fair Work Ombudsman alleges Mehtaab Group has breached the Fair Work Act by failing to comply with a Fair Work Commission compensation order and by failing to comply with the Compliance Notice. It is alleged Mr Khalsa was involved in both breaches.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the legal action would reinforce the importance of complying with Fair Work Commission orders and Compliance Notices.
“It is fundamental for the integrity of the workplace relations system that Fair Work Commission orders and our Compliance Notices are complied with,” Ms Parker said.
“The Fair Work Ombudsman is prepared to take legal action to ensure that employees receive all compensation and entitlements they are lawfully entitled to.”
“If a court finds a Compliance Notice has been breached, they can order a business to pay penalties on top of having to back-pay workers. Any employees with concerns about their pay or entitlements should contact the Fair Work Ombudsman for free advice and assistance,” added Ms Parker.
For allegedly failing to comply with the Fair Work Commission order, Mehtaab Group faces a penalty of up to $66,600 and Mr Khalsa faces a penalty of up to $13,320. For allegedly failing to comply with the Compliance Notice, Mehtaab Group faces a penalty of up to $33,300 and Mr Khalsa faces a penalty of up to $6,660.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is also seeking court orders for the company to pay the outstanding compensation and superannuation owed to the employee, plus interest, and for the company to comply with the Compliance Notice, including by rectifying any underpayment in full. A directions hearing is listed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court in Melbourne on 28 July 2022.
Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance. A free interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.
“There are sparks in the wind that ignite the innate strength of the economy and set it on course to becoming the fastest growing economy in the world, though besieged it might be by fears of recession.”
According to the RBI, the Indian economy has been showing signs of resilience. This is despite high-risk aversion in financial markets that is stampeding portfolio investors.
The RBI further stated that this is taking down all currencies against the unrelenting strength of the US dollar.
Further, the provisional data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on July 12 showed that retail inflation in India has eased marginally in June to 7.01 per cent.
The RBI notes that the recent surge in inflation will be left behind if the price moderation endures alongside the easing of supply chain pressures. This will help the Indian economy to escape the global inflation trap. The RBI said in its bulletin:
“There is some evidence now that supply-chain pressures are peaking globally and in India, so that a major source of upward inflation pressures may be ebbing.”
RBI said India’s current account deficit (CAD) could widen to 2.3% of GDP in 2022/23 if oil prices average $105 per barrel. It would widen to 2.8% if oil averages $120 per barrel but still remain “within the sustainable limit of 3%”.
RBI has also called for close and continuous monitoring of the widening trade deficit and capital outflows. Currently, India’s forex reserves have declined by USD around 40 billion in 2022.
But the woes of the major parties extend beyond election day; they’re also reflected in the terminal trajectory of party membership.
In 2020, the Guardian reported the Australian Labor Party has around 60,000 members. The Liberal Party is currently estimated to have around 40,000 members, down from 197,000 during the halcyon days of the 1950s.
By comparison, there were eight AFL clubs in 2021 with more members than each of the two major parties. Two have more members than both parties combined.
When factoring in population growth, the rate of Liberal Party membership has plummeted since the 1950s, while AFL club membership has grown roughly eightfold since the 1980s.
So, what can the major parties learn from footy clubs about how to grow community support?
Mixing sport and politics
Political parties and sport teams are in fact quite conceptually similar.
Both represent a tribe of people who share a common identity, competing against other such tribes in contests bound by formal rules – whether they are elections or matches.
Political parties and sport teams aren’t just about winning (or at least, they shouldn’t be). At their best, they nurture a wide and passionate base of supporters through collective identity.
Despite a common purpose, they diverge fundamentally in their approaches to attracting support.
Major political parties engage in what marketers call “transactional marketing”; they largely concentrate on obtaining a sale (a vote) at a single moment in time (an election).
Such transactional approaches foster weak attachment to the major political parties outside election times, leaving them vulnerable to shifts in voter preferences.
Sport teams strive for what’s known as “relational marketing”; they concentrate on building relationships with fans that nurture attachment and longer-term loyalty.
The value of a relational approach is particularly evident in periods of crisis.
Despite the Essendon Bombers’ drug scandal being dubbed the “blackest day in Australian sport”, the club’s membership tally actually increased in the immediate aftermath, as supporters galvanised behind the club.
Of course, treating political parties like sports teams – which fans tend to support through thick and thin – risks encouraging bad policy; a rusted-on Liberal or Labor supporter may find themselves supporting the party even when it releases terrible policies.
There is a similar problem in sport; footy clubs accused of systematic cheating or even institutional racism, tend to retain supporters.
I’m not arguing blind support is ideal – but rather that the success footy clubs have found in growing membership and connecting with communities could offer some lessons for the major political parties.
3 tenets of sports marketing
Here are three key lessons the major parties could take from footy clubs.
1. Authentically connect with target communities
Brand authenticity means developing a genuine, natural, honest and real relationship with your constituencies.
The NRL’s South Sydney Rabbitohs launched Souths Cares in 2006 as a community arm with a charter to support disadvantaged and marginalised youth and families, particularly Aboriginal people in the local area.
The AFL’s North Melbourne similarly launched The Huddle in 2010, recognising how the region’s particular cultural diversity underpinned its goal of driving social inclusion.
Such initiatives are authentic because they are grounded in real communities, genuinely address local issues, and extend from a natural alignment between club and community.
This allows football clubs, which have evolved from kitchen table organisations to A$50 million-plus commercial operations, to remain authentically embedded within community.
2. Engage current and prospective supporters 365 days a year
Sport marketers retain a necessary focus on game day. But this is nestled in broader communication and community strategies that aim to achieve year-round engagement.
Non-game days typically represent 95% of the calendar year, so sport clubs employ communications specialists to produce media content beyond the match itself.
This includes player-focused interviews and biographies, match previews and debriefs, coach insights and community visits.
Such content helps fill the vacuum between individual matches or during the off-season, keeping supporters connected to their club.
And while sport clubs retain a focus upon their home games as major commercial events, professional sport clubs also have a broader calendar of less overt community events.
While a typical AFL or NRL club hosts about 12 home games a season, they run at least triple as many community-orientated events – such as school visits or fan days – to foster community engagement.
3. Defining and living an organisational identity
Sport teams are best known by their mascots and colours, but they’re also defined by the values they seek to associate the brand with – for example, family-orientated, pioneering, working-class.
All these elements combine to form a club’s identity.
Melbourne Football Club’s core values of “trust, respect, unity and excellence” informs their off-field staff recruitment. Club identity also helps fans make sense of why they support a particular team over another.
Where football clubs protect and cultivate their identity, major parties battle a perception they’re all “just as bad as each other” – there’s a perceived interchangeability.
By better defining their desired identities with communities outside of elections, major parties would become less reliant on election campaign advertising spending wars to educate voters.
While Australia’s professional sports teams continue to illustrate their success in engaging communities, our major political parties are struggling to build and retain memberships.
Given the underwhelming performance of major political parties last match day, it is perhaps time they rewrite their game plans with the help of sport marketers.
Contributing Author: Hunter Fujak is a Lecturer in Sport Management at Deakin University.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
33-year-old Puneet Puneet who is charged with the hit-run death of Gold Coast man in Melbourne 14 years ago has been granted bail by a court in India.
Puneet fled to India in 2009 after pleading guilty to culpable driving causing death of university student Dean Hofstee.
At the time of the incident in 2008, Puneet was a Learner driver and recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.165. He was also estimated to have been driving a V6 Commodore at 150 km/hr which hit Dean Hofstee and Clancy Coker.
Puneet fled Australia on a friend’s passport while awaiting sentencing and was arrested in India in 2013 on his wedding day. He had been fighting extradition to Australia ever since by claiming threat to his safety due to racism.
In 2019, Puneet’s awyer Kanhaiya Kumar Singhal had told A Current Affair they have “a very good case and there are good chances that [they] will win [their] case and extradition will be dropped.” However, the Victorian Attorney-General’s office today confirmed it “does not dictate what sentences courts impose, nor are they able to offer plea deals.”
After the bail, spokesperson for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the government remains committed to securing Puneet’s extradition. The spokesman said.
“Indian authorities are responsible for pursuing Australia’s extradition request through the Indian courts and the Australian government is grateful to Indian authorities for their ongoing assistance in progressing this request.”
Prosecutors opposed Puneet’s bail and said he was “a flight risk and was apprehended only after three years of search.” According to court documents, the lawyers for Puneet said his mother had a “lung disease and there is no one to look after her”. He has also been ordered by High Court of Delhi to pay Rs 20,000 surety and surrender his passport.
The family of Dean Hofstee told 9News that they were extremely disappointed at Puneet being granted bail. Hoftsee’s father said:
“He pleaded guilty to culpable driving and he killed my son. If he had been held in custody maybe we would have seen an outcome quicker.”
IFFM program launch Image Source: The Australia Today
The 13th edition of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2022 program was officially launched by Festival Director, Mitu Bhowmick Lange at the Indian Consulate of Melbourne.
The IFFM 20222 will have the best of both in cinema and online, It will screen over 100 films in 25 languages and encompass a diverse range of subjects including gender identity, religion, caste, and poverty and continue to present films that showcase all aspects of culture from India and the Indian subcontinent.
There will be a strong female presence across IFFM this year with over a third of the program featuring films headlined by women.
Today the festival has announced one of its esteemed guests, Indian superstar Samantha Prabhu. Samantha is one of the most popular actresses in the Indian film industry and a respected philanthropist.
The festival will also welcome celebrated South Indian actress, Tamannaah Bhatia who will be one of the guest judges for the much-loved IFFM Dance Competition at Federation Square on Saturday 13 August.
Festival Director, Mitu Bhowmick Lange said, “After the unprecedented challenges faced over the last few years, we are so excited to bring the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne back to the big screen, along with our digital platform, ensuring viewers around Australia can access the festival too. “
“This year we have a thought-provoking program of internationally acclaimed films that include a very special feature Ayena (Mirror), which also featured at the Budapest International Documentary Festival and looks at the aftermath of two very special acid attack survivors and their extraordinary spirit and friendship.”
We are especially delighted to have the winner of the Jury Prize from the Cannes Film Festival, Joyland in our program. Our Opening night film, Dobaaraa is another wonderful inclusion, and we are very thrilled to welcome the team direct from the respected London Indian Film Festival,“ Ms Lange added.
The 2022 Festival has announced its dynamic program streams: Beyond Bollywood, Hurrah Bollywood, Documentaries, Short Films (Official Selection), Film India World, Films from the Subcontinent and Made in Melbourne.
Kicking off the program is the Hindi time-bending drama film, Dobaaraa, directed by one of India’s best-known international directors, Anurag Kashyap and stars Taapsee Pannu and Pavail Gulati. The film will come directly from London after its highly successful premiere at the respected London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) and will feature as the Opening Night film for IFFM’s Opening Night presented by Singapore Airlines.
Director, Anurag Kashyap said, “Excited to be showcasing our film and being elected as the opening night film for the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Dobaaraa is a special film for me as a filmmaker and I’m looking forward to showcasing it on this platform.”
“I have previously been to IFFM and have first-hand seen the unison with which Indian films and films from the subcontinent are celebrated and showcased with much vigour,”
said Mr Kashyap.
The festival will continue its tradition to celebrate India’s Independence Day with the IFFM Flag Hoisting Ceremony remains one of the pivotal events of the festival, with thousands of people descending upon Federation Square to see their favourite stars hoist the Indian flag. This year being the 75th anniversary there are several special events and guests planned with more to be announced in the coming weeks.
Other program highlights include the Punjabi feature film, Adh Chanani Raat (Crescent Night), this celebrated film, directed by Gurvinder Singh, draws on Punjabi literature to complete a trilogy that captures the socio-political and economic life of the state. The film comes to IFFM direct from its acclaimed inclusions at both the International Film Festival Rotterdam and Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI).
After its world premiere at Sydney Film Festival the Indian feature film, Fairy Folk, directed by Karan Gour will also feature. The film examines thorny questions of love and sexuality in this magical realist drama in which a genderless woodland being crashes into the lives of a jaded couple. A hugely successful Hindi feature, Dug Dug, directed by Ritwik Pareek which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival will also be part of the line-up.
Throughout August, IFFM will take over multiple key venues in Melbourne’s CBD and suburbs including Federation Square, Arts Centre Melbourne, and the Palais Theatre. This year IFFM has chosen the Royal Children’s Hospital as its charity partner, and IFFM online viewers will be encouraged to donate to support this essential hospital service.
Key Dates Announced:
Friday 12th August:
IFFM Press Conference, Melbourne CBD
IFFM Opening Night @ Hoyts District Docklands
Saturday 13th August :
Flag Hoisting Ceremony for the 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence at Federation Square, Melbourne
IFFM Dance Competition at Federation Square, Melbourne
It’s not an academic way to start an article about Australia’s latest jobs numbers, but all I can think is “wow”.
The official unemployment rate in June fell to 3.5%. It’s almost 50 years – August 1974, to be exact – since it was lower.
How we got there was through more people getting hired: 88,400 people compared with 60,600 the month before.
This reduced total unemployment by 54,300, even as the labour force swelled by 34,200 to 14,093,000.
90,000 new jobs a month
After the hit to employment in 2021 from shutdowns due to the Delta variant of COVID-19, there was always going to be a rebound. But the strength is amazing. Since October last year, employment has grown, on average, by more than 90,000 people a month.
We can compare this with what happened during the initial recovery from the onset of COVID-19, from May 2020 to January 2021.
That recovery came after a much bigger loss of jobs compared with late 2021. This makes the past eight months more impressive. With less opportunity for catch-up, slower growth could reasonably have been expected.
Climbing job vacancies
Along with a record-high proportion of the population employed – 64.4% – there is a record-high proportion of vacant jobs: 3.4%.
Exceptional growth in the demand for labour is encouraging people to join (or rejoin) the labour force. The proportion of the population in work or looking for work in June rose to 66.8%.
But also record sickness
Offsetting more people wanting to work, however, is more people being away from work ill.
In the first six months of 2022, on average, 5.2% of workers did fewer hours than usual due to illness. This compares to 3% in the same months from 2017 to 2019.
It’s likely some employers are needing to hire extra workers to cover for increased rates of absenteeism due to COVID-19 or the flu, adding to demand.
So what about wages?
The puzzle in all this is wages growth. How can we have unemployment so low and yet so little evidence of stronger wages growth?
Even with record low unemployment and record high job vacancy rates, in the 12 months to the end of March, wages grew by just 2.4%. This compares with prices (inflation) growing by 5.1%. Real wages therefore declined by 2.7%.
This lack of “market” response is most likely due to Australia’s institutional arrangements for wage-setting. These arrangements make some lag in wages responding to demand inevitable.
About 35% of employees are on enterprise bargaining agreements, which are renegotiated on average every two to three years. Those agreements might have annual wage increases built in, but based on the labour market as it was when the collective agreement was struck.
About 23% of employees are on awards – and increases to these are set by the Fair Work Commission just once a year.
Nevertheless, the Fair Work Commission’s decision last month to lift wages for award workers by up to 5.2% shows that wages do eventually reflect labour market conditions. A higher rate of wage growth should also happen progressively for workers covered by collective agreements, as employers adjust their expectations about what they need to pay to keep and attract employees.
Still, fears that wage increase will get out of hand, leading to a wage-price spiral as in the 1970s, are exaggerated.
Many factors have changed. In the 1970s, Australia had “pattern bargaining” – whereby if one group of workers got a big wage increase it would pretty much automatically flow to all other workers. This is no longer the case. Moreover, the decline in union representation, and the rise of technology and globalisation, have all made it more difficult for workers to bargain for higher wages.
Contributing Author: Jeff Borland is a Professor of Economics at The University of Melbourne.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
The first task I give photography students is to create a starscape.
To do this, I ask them to sweep the floor beneath them, collect the dust and dirt in a paper bag and then sprinkle it onto a sheet of 8×10 inch photo paper. Then, using the photographic enlarger, expose the detritus-covered paper to light. After removing the dust and dirt, the paper is submerged in a bath of a chemical developer.
In less than two minutes, an image slowly emerges of a universe teeming with galaxies.
I love it when the darkroom fills with the sound of their astonishment the moment they realise the dust beneath their feet is transformed into a scene of scientific wonder.
I was reminded of this analogue exercise when NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shared the first deep field images. The public expression of wonder is not unlike that of my students in the darkroom.
But unlike our makeshift starscapes, the Deep Field images capture an actual galaxy cluster, “the deepest, the sharpest infrared view of the universe to date.”
This imaging precision will help scientists to solve the mysteries in our solar system and our place in it.
But they will also inspire continued experiments by artists who address the subject of space, the universe and our fragile place in it.
Creating art of space
Images of the cosmos afford considerable visual pleasure. I listen to scientists passionately describing the information stored in their saturated colours and amorphous shapes, what the luminosity and shadows are, and what lurks in the deep blacks that are spotted and speckled.
The mysteries of the universe are the stuff of science and of the imagination.
Throughout history, artists have imagined and created proxy universes: constructions that are lyrical and speculative, alternate worlds that are stand-ins for what we imagine and hope and fear are “out there”.
The James Webb Space Telescope’s image of Stephan’s Quintet. NASA/STScI, CC BY-SA
There are the photo-real drawings and paintings of Vija Celmins. The night sky has been painstakingly drawn or painted by hand with extraordinary detail and precision.
There are David Stephenson’s time-lapse photographs that read as lyrical celestial drawings reminding us that we are on a moving planet. and Yosuke Takeda’s ambiguous starbursts of colour and light. Thomas Ruff’s sensuous star photos were made through the close cropping of the details of existing science images he bought after failing to be able to capture the cosmos with his own camera.
There’s also the incredible work of the Blue Mountains-based duo Haines & Hinterding where polka dots become stars, black pigment is the night sky, and bleeding coloured ink is a gas formation. They make rocks hum and harness the sun’s rays so we can hear and smell its energy.
These artworks highlight the creative drive to draw on science for the purposes of art. The divide between science and art is an artificial one.
Pictures of our imaginations
The Webb telescope shows science’s capacity to bring us images that are aesthetically imaginative, expressive and technically accomplished but – strangely – they don’t make me feel anything.
Science tells me these shapes are galaxies and stars billions of years away, but it isn’t sinking in. Instead, I see a fabulously constructed landscape like James Nasmyth’s famous moon images from 1874.
In my imagination, I picture the Webb images as made of fairy lights, coloured gels, mirrors, black cloth, filters and photoshop.
A planetary nebula, seen by the Webb telescope. NASA/STScI, CC BY-SA
Art’s stand-ins invade my psyche. When I look at the deep field and planetary nebula, I remember that even these “objective” machine-made images are constructed. The rays of light, holes and gases are artistic experiments in photographic abstraction, examining what lies beyond vision.
Imaging technology always transforms what is “out there”, and how we see it is determined by what is “in here”: our own subjectivity; what we bring of ourselves and our lives to the reading of the image.
The telescope is a photographer crawling through the cosmos, making more of the unseen seen. Giving artists more references for appropriation, imagination and also critique.
While scientists see structure and detail, artists see aesthetic and performative possibilities for asking pressing questions that concern the politics of space and place.
Art in space
Webb’s images present a renewed opportunity to reflect on the work of American artist Trevor Paglen, who sent the world’s first artwork into space.
Paglen’s work examines the political geography that is space and the ways in which governments aided by science use space for mass surveillance and data collection.
The deepest and sharpest infrared image of the early universe ever taken. NASA/STScI, CC BY-SA
He created a 30-metre diamond-shaped balloon called the Orbital Reflector, which was supposed to open up into an enormous reflective balloon and be seen from Earth as a bright star. It rocketed into space on a satellite, but the engineers could not complete the sculpture’s deployment due to the unexpected government shutdown.
Unlike astronomers, he wasn’t trying to unlock the mystery of the universe or our place in it. He was asking: is space a place for art? Who owns space, and who is space for?
Space is readily available to government, military, commercial and scientific interests. For the time being, Earth remains the place for art.
Contributing Author: Cherine Fahd is an Associate Professor of Visual Communication in the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Jonathan Crabtree interacting with students in India (Image Source: Jonathan Crabtree)
An Australian historian and researcher has applauded the Karnataka head of the NEP (National Education Policy) task force in India, Madan Gopal. Mr Gopal had recently suggested that it was Indian mathematician Baudhyana who had first put forward the theory now commonly referred to as the ‘Pythagoras’ theorem*.
While some say the matter of whether Baudhayana beat Pythagoras to the famous theorem is open to debate, Jonathan J. Crabtree, an advocate for Bharatiya Maths said, “There’s no doubt NCERT* should refer to Baudhayana and not Pythagoras.”
Baudhyana is estimated to have lived around the 8th century BC in Bharat (Bharat being the Indigenous name of India) while Pythagoras is said to have lived in Greece around the 6th century BC.
(Image Source: Jonathan Crabtree)
Furthermore, Mr Crabtree said, “It’s not enough to just change a name from Pythagoras to Baudhayana. What’s more important is India reclaims its long-lost title as Vishwa Guru or ‘World Teacher’. This can be done by expanding the standard compass and straightedge used in geometry to include rope or string as done long ago in Vedic times. The word Śulba in Śulbasūtras* literally means rope.”
“One example is the simple fact that planets orbit in an ellipse, unable to be drawn with a compass, yet easy with rope or string. Similarly, it’s impossible to square a circle with a compass and straightedge yet simple as revealed in my paper ‘Squaring a Circle with Rope’.”
(Image Source: Jonathan Crabtree)
Mr Crabtree even has a video for children explaining how to square circles with rope. He has long been calling for Indic innovative change in Karnataka’s maths education. He recently gave a presentation for Virat Hindustan Sangam Karnataka on the topic Treasures of Post-Vedic Bharatiya Maths.
Mr Crabtree’s story is a strange one. He became interested in Indian mathematics at the age of 7, in 1968. In Class 2 he noticed a loose thread. Zero was missing from his teacher’s explanation of multiplication.
Over the years Mr Crabtree struggled to understand the maths he was being taught. Instead of intuitive common-sense explanations, he says he was given rules and laws to obediently obey.
In 1983 at age 21 he found himself in hospital with a shattered spine facing bleak news. If he moved; he might never walk again. So, he made a personal promise to fix maths if he was ever able to walk again.
Within a few years, he made headlines in Australia, when he said, “I hope to change the way the western world teaches maths.” Like a dog with a bone, Mr Crabtree never gave up on his promise. As if pulling a loose thread, he unravelled what he considers the feeble fabric of western math education to completely rebuild it from India’s zero.
Hobsons Bay Leader (Image Source: Jonathan Crabtree)Geelong Advertiser (Image Source: Jonathan Crabtree)
Mr Crabtree says that perhaps the most extraordinary thing about Indian maths is it is so simple compared to the British maths curriculum schools follow around the world.
“The 18 maths sutras of Brahmagupta from 628 CE make everything fall into place. Importantly, his ideas are consistent with the basic laws of physics and the principle of symmetry.”
“For example, Brahmagupta defined zero as a sum of equal yet opposite numbers. Alas, today children are taught the absurd idea that 2 negatives are greater than 5 negatives in primary school, yet later told every action has an equal and opposite reaction in physics classes – consistent with Brahmagupta.”
Mr Crabtree also mentions that his research reveals that India’s original zero-based maths was never fully understood in the Arabic world, so the version Europe received had been scrambled and was incomplete.” Children are taught 5 – 2 in Class 1 or 2 yet then wait five years to be taught 2 – 5.”
Yet, Mr Crabtree has devised a fun way for young children to learn these concepts. In his ‘Happy Harappan Brick and Hole Game’, a brick represents a positive and a hole represents a negative.
“Imagine a brick seller has two bricks for sale, yet a buyer wants five bricks. The solution is to add a zero, as per Brahmagupta’s Addition Sutra #5, positive plus zero is positive. The brick seller adds a zero by digging three holes to make three bricks. Now the seller has five bricks and three holes. The five bricks are then sold, and three holes remain. The maths model reveals why 2 – 5 = –3.”
Image Source: Jonathan Crabtree
Mr Crabtree has written to India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on several occasions regarding his in-depth research on Bharatiya Maths. While he has not yet received a reply, he remains optimistic that either India or one of its neighbours will soon take his research into consideration.
Meanwhile, Mr Madan Gopal tweeted after The Australia Today published this article,
*’Pythagoras’ theorem states that in a right-angled triangle the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
*NCERT – The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous organisation set up in 1961 by the Government of India to assist and advise the Central and State Governments on policies and programmes for qualitative improvement in school education.
“As far as I have been able to determine these are the oldest geometry (or even mathematics) textbooks in existence. It is apparently the oldest applied geometry text.”
There is bipartisan consensus that Commonwealth legislation should protect individuals of different faiths from discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere.
But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not committed to a timeline to enact any new legislation. His government has also stepped away from controversial areas of this policy promoted under the Morrison government that focused on “religious freedoms”.
The new government may be closer to the public mood.
Religious discrimination; Image Source: @CANVA
Results of the 2022 Australian Cooperative Election Study (ACES) confirm that voters do not see religious discrimination as a significant issue. Only a minority (27%) agree that “Australians who hold religious beliefs face a lot of discrimination”. A majority either disagree (31%) or are neutral (42%). Clear majorities oppose protections of religious freedom seen as discriminating against LGBTIQ+ individuals.
Much of this controversy has centred on schools. Since the advent of anti-discrimination laws in the mid-1970s, religious schools have benefited from exemptions allowing them to refuse to employ staff or accept students based on their sexuality or gender identity — if this is contrary to the ethos of the school.
In response, the then prime minister, Scott Morrison, drafted “religious freedoms” bills in 2019 and 2021. The latter was based on an election promise to override state and territory laws to protect “statements of belief” made by individuals “in accordance with doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of their religion”.
The bill was dramatically shelved in February 2022. Five moderate Liberal MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives. They objected to the bill’s protections for potentially anti-LGBTIQ+ commentary without any accompanying commitment to protect transgender children from exclusion from schools. The bill was doomed to fail in the Senate.
The conservative Australian Christian Lobby in turn targeted moderate Liberals in the election campaign, portraying them as opponents of religious protection.
Our new data reinforce the extent of voter resistance to aspects of the “religious freedoms” agenda in the lead-up to the election.
Religious discrimination; Image Source: @CANVA
The ACES asked voters a series of questions about religious schools and conditions for staff and students. A clear majority (67%) disagreed that “religious schools should be able to refuse to employ staff based on their sexual orientation”. Only 15% agreed.
Almost identical results were reported for the statement about refusing to “employ staff because of their transgender identity” (65% disagreed and 16% agreed). Voters also disagreed by very similar margins that religious schools should be able to “exclude students based on their sexual orientation” or “their transgender identity”.
There were predictable demographic differences for all four statements. Women consistently expressed disagreement in the 74% to 79% range. Men also disagreed, but with smaller majorities (56% to 59% range). Younger voters were most inclined to express disagreement, while the majority of voters aged 65 and over also registered disagreement.
These findings suggest Morrison misjudged the electoral mood. He defended the Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves, whose views on sports and transgender identity generated a backlash against the Coalition.
Religious discrimination; Image Source: @CANVA
If the Coalition was looking to win conservatives in outer-metro electorates, its efforts did not succeed on election night.
Indeed, 39% of respondents to the ACES agreed that “Australian politics is too focused on the rights of religious people”. Only 21% disagreed with the statement, and 40% expressed a neutral view.
US-style religious politics appear to have limited appeal in a country with a growing distance from organised religion. Last month’s Census results showed that 39% of Australians do not identify as religious.
Responding to a similar question in ACES, 49% identified as non-religious. At the same time, Australians appear on board with sexual and gender diversity. They reject protections for religious organisations to exclude people from employment and schooling on these bases.
No doubt the Albanese government will be weighing this reality as it considers its next steps in addressing religious discrimination in law.
Survey note: The Australian Cooperative Election Survey (ACES) is a collaborative project involving Australian universities that used YouGov panel data and methodologies to study the 2022 federal election. The survey was fielded online in May 2022 with an overall sample of 5,988 voters and 1,044 voters for the religion module. Data were weighted to reflect the population and the methodology is detailed here.
This article has been republished from The Conversationunder a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors: Kate Gleeson is an Associate Professor of Law at Macquarie University. Robert Ross is Research Fellow in Psychology at Macquarie University. Shaun Wilson is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Macquarie University.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
People who come to know that they are autistic at a younger age can have a heightened quality of life and sense of well-being in adulthood.
That’s the finding of a new study, published in the journal Autism, which also found that those who learned of their autism as adults reported more positive emotions (especially relief) about autism when first learning they were autistic. Findings suggest that telling a child that they are autistic at a younger age empowers them by providing access to support and a foundation for self-understanding that helps them thrive later in life.
For the first time, researchers directly investigated whether learning if one is autistic at a younger age is associated with better adult outcomes. Many autistic people – particularly females, ethnic/racial minorities and people with limited resources – are diagnosed years after the characteristics are first noticed. In many cases, autistic people do not receive their diagnosis until adulthood.
The study was carried out by a team of autistic and non-autistic students and academic researchers. Seventy-eight autistic university students were surveyed, sharing how they found out they were autistic and how they felt about their diagnosis. Respondents also revealed how they felt about their lives and being autistic now.
One of the co-authors, Dr Steven Kapp, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Portsmouth, was diagnosed with and informed of his autism aged 13.
Autism Awareness; Image Source: @CANVA
He said, “Students who learned they were autistic when they were younger felt happier about their lives than people who were diagnosed at an older age. Our study shows that it is probably best to tell people they are autistic as soon as possible in a balanced, personal, and developmentally appropriate way. Learning one is autistic can be empowering because it helps people understand themselves and also helps them connect with other people like them.” However, being given a diagnosis as an adult can often also be empowering.
“Learning about autism at an older age is associated with more positive emotions about a diagnosis – especially relief. This finding makes sense, although emotional reactions are often very complex and unique to each person – there has been a lot of emerging research showing that relief is a common response to an autism diagnosis in adulthood.”
Dr Kapp said.
The study suggests that parents should not wait for children to become adults to tell them they are autistic. No participants recommended doing so, although most highlighted factors to consider when informing a child of their autism, including developmental level, support needs, curiosity, and personality. Findings also suggest that parents should tell their children they are autistic in ways that help them understand and feel good about who they are.
One participant said:
“I would tell my child that autism is a different way of thinking, that it can be challenging and beautiful and powerful and exhausting and impactful, that autistic people deserve to be themselves, to be proud of their identity, and have supports that help them meet their needs.”
Bella Kofner, co-lead author (24), who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3 and informed of her autism at the age of 10, said: “This is the first study, to our knowledge, to demonstrate that learning at a young age that one is autistic may have positive impacts on emotional health among autistic university students.”
“Hopefully, this finding may begin to address concerns parents have about when to talk to their child about autism. ‘When’ the conversation begins is particularly important. Our findings suggest that learning at a younger age that one is autistic can help autistic people develop self-understanding and access support, providing the foundations for well-being in adulthood.”
Direct Flights between India And WA; Picture Source: @AirIndia
The government of Western Australia, the largest state of Australia, has held talks with the top management of Air India, Vistara and IndiGo.
During his visit to New Delhi and Mumbai, Western Australia’s Deputy Premier Roger Cook met airline top executives and Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to connect with Perth to boost tourism from India.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism Roger Cook MLA (LinkedIn)
Cook, who is leading Western Australia’s biggest trade, investment and education delegation, highlighted that Perth is also the host to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup later this year. In a local media interview he said:
“I met Tata Group chairman N. Chandrasekaran and requested him to consider Perth as a route for Air India or Vistara which are part of the Tata Group. Our officials had also met with top executives of IndiGo.”
Cook says that he received positive feedback from these airlines but the common concern is adequate load factor. He added:
“At this stage, given the post-pandemic recovery efforts, securing a direct aviation route from India to Western Australia is a key priority for the state’s government. This would bring the much-needed Indian international students, tourists, investors, and new skilled migrants to the Western Australian shore.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism Roger Cook MLA with trade and investment delegation (LinkedIn)
Western Australia has allocated AUD 167 million for 2022-23 just to promote tourism globally. Cook told media that Western Australia covers nearly one-third of Australia and would suit Indian tourits. He added:
“Tourism Western Australia’s research indicates travellers from India are especially interested in nature and wildlife, stunning coastlines, beaches and marine wildlife, local cuisine and a family-friendly destination – Western Australia has all this to offer and much more.”
India ranks 11th in terms of footfalls and 10th in terms of spending in Western Australia. The state has seen the return of visitors from India with arrivals in May reaching more than 90 per cent of pre-COVID levels and forward bookings for July and August even higher than before the pandemic.
Air India Flights; Image Source: Twitter @airindiain
At present, Qantas and Air India have direct flights to India, connecting Sydney and Melbourne with New Delhi. Qantas is launching its first direct nonstop Bengaluru to Sydney flight in September 2022.
The term “social media addiction” is nowadays increasingly used to describe people who spend a lot of time on websites and apps.
Although, not same as an addiction to substance abuse, this too is related to behavioural “addictions” as it definitely resonates with certain characterisations and vicious cycle of most common addictions.
Image source: Wikipedia.
A study compiled by experts from Australia’s University of Technology Sydney has listed 46 side-effects that social media addiction can cause amongst its users.
Dr Eila Erfani, Layla Boroon, and Associate Professor Babak Abedin (Macquarie University) conducted the research and collated the range of negative effects of social media use.
Image source: layla Boroon- UTS Facebook.
Layla Boroon, a PhD candidate at the University of Technology Sydney, says:
“Much of the research on social network use has focused on its benefits and potential, but we were interested in comprehensively identifying the negative impacts that have been associated with social media use.”
Their extensive list shows that the impacts on users are beyond concerns related to mental health.
Among the 46 listed risks by the experts, dumb jokes, information overload, low job performance, low academic performance, increased appetite for taking financial risks and incitement to suicide emerged as lesser-known risks.
Risks such as panic, irritation, stress, depression, guilt, jealously, loneliness, flaming behaviours and anxiety are something that experts have been warning about for a long time.
Image source: Dr Eila Erfani – UTS website.
Dr Eila Erfani, Deputy Head of the UTS School of Information, Systems and Modelling, highlights how social media harm has received less attention.
“Social media harms have mostly been studied from a psychopathological perspective. They have received less attention from information systems researchers.”
These effects range from physical and mental health problems to negative impacts on job and academic performance as well as security and privacy issues.
The researchers grouped the negative effects into six themes:
Cost of social exchange: includes both psychological harms, such as depression, anxiety or jealousy, and other costs such as wasted time, energy and money
Annoying content: includes a wide range of content that annoys, upsets or irritates, such as disturbing or violent content or sexual or obscene content
Privacy concerns: includes any threats to personal privacy related to storing, repurposing or sharing personal information with third parties
Security threats: refers to harms from fraud or deception such as phishing or social engineering
Cyberbullying: includes any abuse or harassment by groups or individuals such as abusive messages, lying, stalking or spreading rumours
Low performance: refers to negative impact on job or academic performance.
The teams says that the next step in this area is to develop and test applications, design features and other solutions that can reduce these negative effects.
Image source: Wikipedia.
At present, there are more than three billion users of Facebook and Instagram, two billion users of Twitter, and one billion users of TikTok who might be the potential target of these harmful effects.
The researchers believe that greater awareness of the potential dangers can encourage user moderation.
They further add that this awareness can also help software engineers, educators and policymakers to develop various practical ways to minimise the negative effects of social media.
A view of sand art of different districts by pass of Bundelkhand Expressway in Jalaun on Friday. PM Modi will inaugurate Bundelkhand Expressway at Kaitheri village on 16 July; Image Source: Twitter
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi will visit Uttar Pradesh today to inaugurate Bundelkhand Expressway at Kaitheri village in Orai tehsil of Jalaun district.
Bundelkhand Expressway (Twitter – Narendra Modi)
This 296 km four-lane expressway has been constructed at a cost of around Rs 14,850 crores by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA).
Bundelkhand Expressway (Twitter – Narendra Modi)
As per the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) statement, this Expressway can later be expanded up to six lanes as well.
The Indian government has committed to enhancing connectivity across the country, a key feature of which has been the work towards improvement in road infrastructure.
“A significant endeavour towards this was the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of Bundelkhand Expressway by the Prime Minister on February 29, 2020. The work on the Expressway has been completed within 28 months and it will now be inaugurated by the Prime Minister,” said the PMO statement.
A view of sand art of different districts by pass of Bundelkhand Expressway in Jalaun on Friday. PM Modi will inaugurate Bundelkhand Expressway at Kaitheri village on 16 July; Image Source: Twitter
Bundelkhand Expressway extends from NH-35 at Gonda village near Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot district to near Kudrail village in Etawah district, where it merges with the Agra-Lucknow expressway. It passes through seven districts, viz. Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah.
Bundelkhand Expressway (Twitter – Narendra Modi)
PM Modi tweeted that “This project will boost the local economy and connectivity.”
Tomorrow, 16th July is a special day for my sisters and brothers of the Bundelkhand region. At a programme in Jalaun district, the Bundelkhand Expressway will be inaugurated. This project will boost the local economy and connectivity. https://t.co/wYy4pRQgx4pic.twitter.com/Y2liHsxE5U
Along with improving connectivity in the region, the Bundelkhand Expressway will also give a major boost to economic development, resulting in the creation of thousands of jobs for the local people, said the PMO.
By Gemma Sou, Adeeba Nuraina Risha and Gina Ziervogel
We know young people are “angry, frustrated and scared” about climate change. And they want to do more to stop it.
However, the school system is not set up to help them address their concerns and learn the information they seek.
There are no explicit mentions of climate change in the Australian primary school curriculum and it is mainly taught through STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects in high school.
More broadly, the main ways we talk about climate in the community and media are focused on science and economics. They tend to involve abstract ideas such as “the planet is warming” or “rainfall is more unpredictable”. While these are important components, they overlook the social, cultural and psychological ways people around the world are affected by climate change.
So, how can we better support schools and teachers to approach climate change in a way that will suit young people’s interests and concerns?
Our comic
We are geography and environment researchers who have written a comic that looks at how people around the world experience climate change. This is aimed at high school students, but will also appeal to university students and the broader public.
Called Everyday Stories of Climate Change, it looks at the ways low-income families have had to adapt to climate change in five countries across three continents.
It begins with a student, waking up in Australia and heading to school. Here the teacher notes that climate change is impacting people around the world, “today we are going to explore some of these places”.
For example, in Bangladesh, sea-level rise has contributed to the salinity of the local river. So women must walk hours to get fresh water from another river. In Puerto Rico, after hurricane Maria, people struggle to get nutritious food and the streets are too dirty for the kids to play outside. In Barbuda, the government is trying to displace people from their lands, so that private businesses can build luxury hotels after hurricane Irma.
The characters in the comics are fictionalised but their stories are based on research – via interviews and surveys – the comic authors did about people’s experiences of climate change in Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Barbuda, South Africa and Bangladesh.
Screenshot – Everyday Stories of Climate Change (Authors)
The importance of stories
Researchers have long argued we need to put a human face on climate change and communicate in ways that resonate with people. This means, we need to do more than present a graph or rattle off statistics.
Comics are an effective way to put a human face on issues because they allow us to show first-person narratives and experiences. This can create both understanding of the issues and evoke empathy in readers.
The comic is deliberately engaging and accessible. By showing real people going about their lives, it also challenges patronising ideas about people and places adversely impacted by climate change in the so-called “global south,” which often portrays them as “helpless” victims.
The comic also allows people to see the tangible, everyday ways people around the world live with, respond to and adapt to climate change.
For example, the family in Puerto Rico raise their own chickens and grow their own vegetables so they can eat the food they want during food shortages after hurricane Maria. In drought-stricken Cape Town, people save the bathwater for the garden and plant drought-tolerant aloes.
It is important to show these solutions as research suggests it gives people a sense of agency and hope they can adapt to climate change.
Parents, teachers and students can download the comic for free here and here.
Note: Everyday Stories of Climate Change is a collaboration between Gemma Sou (RMIT University), Adeeba Nuraina Risha (BRAC University), Gina Ziervogel (University of Cape Town), illustrator Cat Sims and the Geography Teachers’ Association of Victoria.
This article has been republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors: Gemma Sou is Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow, RMIT University; Adeeba Nuraina Risha is Research associate at BRAC University; and Gina Ziervogel is Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and African Climate and Development Initiative Research Chair, University of Cape Town.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Featured Image courtesy (swayamvara illustration for representation purposes only): Wikimedia (left: illustration of Hindi Gita Press Mahabharata; right: coinage of Meghavahana with one side featuring Shiva Pashupati and reverse side depicting a Goddess Shakti)
By Manoshi Sinha
Swayamvara is a ceremony wherein a bride of marriageable age chooses the groom of her choice from a group of suitors. This practice was followed in ancient India. Kings in ancient India often invited princes of various kingdoms to attend the swayamvara ceremony of their daughters. The princess would thus choose her groom from amongst the group of assembled princes. Rama and Sita, Nala and Damayanti, Pandu and Kunti, Arjun and Draupadi married through swayamvara.
The swayamvara of Meghavahana and Amritaprabha finds description in several historical records including the Rajatarangini by Kalhana. Meghavahana came from Gandhara of modern Afghanistan to attend the ceremony, which corroborates the existence of the Uttarapatha, currently known as GT Road, connecting kingdoms since pre-Ramayana times. Our history textbooks don’t describe ancient India or about the connection of the kingdoms from north to south, east to west. Assam and the Northeastern states hardly find a place in the textbooks.
The ancient name of Assam is Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotishpur that finds mentioned in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Harivamsa, Vishnupurana, Brahmandapurana, and more ancient texts. Later it came to be known as Kamrupa and Kamata and then Assam. Kamrupa, which finds mentioned in the Kalika Purana and other records, draws its name from Kamdev and also from Goddess Kamakhya.
Kamakhya Temple, Assam, India (Image Source: CANVA)
According to legend, it was at a small hillock called Bhasmacala in the middle of the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati that Kamdev interrupted Shiva’s meditation many thousands of years ago. Shiva burnt Kamdev to ashes with his anger. This hillock is also known as Peacock Island – the world’s smallest inhabited river island.
Amritaprabha was the daughter of Raja Balavarman and Rani Ratnavati of Pragjyotishpur. Balavarman, a Vaishnavite, was a contemporary of Samudragupta. According to the book Chronology of India by Vedveer Arya, the Guptas flourished during the last three hundred years of BCE.
Balavarman was the third ruler of the Varman dynasty, which is described in the Doobi and Nidhanpur copperplate inscriptions. The kings of this dynasty trace their ancestry to Narakasur, Bhagadatta and Vajradatta of the Bhauma or Naraka dynasty. Vajradatta sided with the Kauravas in the Mahabharata war. Narakasur involved in a battle against Krishna; he was killed by Krishna and Satyabhama.
Meghavahana was the son of Gopaditya, a descendant of the blind Yudhisthira, a king of the Gonanda dynasty of Kashmir. This dynasty was established by Gonand, who was a contemporary of Pandav prince Yudhisthir and a relative of Jarashandh, the ruler of Magadh. He finds mentioned in the Mahabharata.
Umananda Island also known as Peacock Island (Image Source: CANVA)
After Yudhisthira of Kashmir was deposed by his own ministers, Kashmir fell in the hands of another dynasty. This dynasty ended with the rule of Jayendra who had no children. A minister named Sandhimati ascended the throne of Kashmir after Jayendra. But he was unfit to be a ruler and spent most of his time in forest retreats. During this time, Gopaditya lived in exile in Gandhara.
It was during his exile that Gopaditya heard about Raja Balavarman holding a swayamvara ceremony for his daughter Amritaprabha. Gopaditya wished for a strong marriage alliance for regaining back Kashmir. Considering the swayamvara an opportunity, he sent his son to Pragjyotishpur as a suitor. Raja Balavarman had already invited princes from several kingdoms as suitors.
During Sita’s swayamvara in Mithila, Raja Janak invited princes from several kingdoms. To choose the right groom, he used the the bow gifted by Shiva to Parashuram. This divine bow was in his possession. A competition was organized wherein, the suitor who could lift the bow would be chosen as the groom for Sita. Ram lifted and broke the bow and married Sita.
Similarly, Raja Balavarman of Pragjyotishpur had a parasol (umbrella) received by Narakasur from Varun Dev, the Rain-God. This parasol cast its shadow on only a supreme king. Amritaprabha met one prince after another in the assembly along with her maidens, with one of them holding the parasol, the precious possession. The parasol did not cast its shadow on any other prince except on Meghavahana. Though Meghavahana did not have a kingdom then, the casting of the shadow of the umbrella on him proved he would be a prominent king in the near future. Amritaprabha chose Meghavahana as her husband and the wedding took place with great pomp and show in Pragjyotishpur. Raja Balavarman gifted the parasol to Meghavahana.
Mahabharata Illustration (Image Source: CANVA)
To quote from Studies in the History of Assam by Suryya Kumar Bhuyan, “There was a wonder-working article in possession of the royal family descended from Bhagadatta,—the parasol or umbrella wrested by King Narakasura from the rain-god Varuna. The parasol emitted a cool shade when it was held over the head of a person endowed with the marks of a potential sovereign: this miraculous effect was not produced when it was spread over the heads of others. This parasol was used in the Swayamvara ceremony of Amritaprabha. It can be assumed that in the congregation of kings and princes the umbrella-bearer held the parasol over the head of one candidate after another as he was approached by Princess Amritaprabha, garland in hand and accompanied by her friends and attendants. When it was held on the head of Prince Meghavahana the cool shade emanating from the parasol enveloped that prince. From this the princess came to know that Meghavahana would one day become a great king— a Rajadhiraja Chakravarti-raja. Amritaprabha then placed the bridal garland on the neck of Meghavahana. It was soon followed by the celebration of the festivities of their marriage”:
To quote from the Rajataranginiby Kalhana, translated by Jogesh Chunder Dutt, “This exiled prince had a son named Meghavahana, whom his father sent to the country of East Yotisha to be present at the Sayamvara marriage of the daughter of its king who was a Visnuvite and who had the fortune of being selected as the husband of the princess. He was also presented with an umbrella, which was got from Varuna by king Naraka and which cast its shade on none but a paramount king. This connection gave him some importance in the eyes of the people who believed that he would one day rise to power.”:
Meghavahana and Amritaprabha came to Gandhara after the wedding ceremony. Meanwhile, after 47 years of rule, Raja Sandhimati of Kashmir resigned from his throne, leaving the affairs of the kingdom to his ministers. Despite request from the ministers to reascend the throne, he refused and left the kingdom as a hermit towards the Himalayas. The ministers came to know about Meghavahana as a descendant of the Gonanda dynasty and about his marriage with the princess of Pragjyotishpur. They came to Gandhara to take them to Kashmir. What Gopaditya planned of regaining his ancestral kingdom through war, happened amicably. They all went back to Kashmir. Meghavahana was crowned the king.
Kashmir, India (Image Source: CANVA)
Meghavahana ruled from 80-46 BCE. He was the 80th ruler of the Gonanda line of rulers and the first king of the restored dynasty. Going by several records, Meghavahana ruled before the start of the common era, i.e. last years of BCE. According to the book Introduction to Assam by Dimbeshwar Neog, Meghavahana ruled from 12 CE. He cites Oralstyne, the translator of Rajatarangini in English. Here is an extract from the book:
As soon as Meghavahana ascended the throne of Kashmir, he promulgated an edict that prohibited the slaughter of animals in his kingdom. He arranged donations of money to hunters and sellers of meat so that their livelihood wasn’t affected due to the ban. He built a village named Meghavana and ‘peopled it with Brahmanas’. He set up a monastery called Meghamatha. To prevent other kingdoms to stop the slaughtering of animals, he visited the respective kings and was involved in battles with those who did not comply with. He even went to Lanka where he was given a warm welcome and his cause supported. Meghavahana expanded the boundaries of his kingdom and ruled his kingdom wisely.
Amritaprabha constructed a Vihara called Amritabhavan for foreign bhikshus. Staupa, a learned saint from Tibet, was a courtier in the court of Raja Balavarman. Amritaprabha invited Staupa to Kashmir forever to which her father agreed. Staupa built a Buddhist stupa in Kashmir known as Lo-Staunpa.
Many women from the royal families of Kashmir were named after Amritaprabha. The name of one of the consorts of Raja Ranaditya, who became the king of Kashmir 177 years after Meghavahana, was also called Amritaprabha. The mother of Raja Vinayaditya, who became king 528 years after Ranaditya was also Amritaprabha, who built the Amratakeswar temple. And the legacy of Amritaprabha, the princess of ancient Assam, continued in Kashmir.
Ref:
1. Rajatarangini by Kalhana, translated by Jogesh Chunder Dutt.
2. Introduction to Assam by Dimbeshwar Neog.
3. Studies in the History of Assam by Suryya Kumar Bhuyan.
Contributing Author: Manoshi Sinha is the author of several books including the bestselling ‘Saffron Swords’. A postgraduate in English Literature from Pune University, she is from Assam. She is an independent Researcher on Indian History and ancient Temples. She is the founder of myindiamyglory.com, an e-magazine that presents Bharat from ancient to the present with a special focus on History and heritage. Prior to her present stint, she worked as an Editor in leading publication houses.
This article by Manoshi Sinha was first published on www.myindiamyglory.com
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Indian Australians participating in Australia Day parade: Picture Source: The Australia Today
Australia has been ranked at number nine while its next-door neighbour New Zealand has been ranked at number 51 just above Kuwait in a ranking of 52 countries.
A survey entitled ‘The Expat Insider 2022’ report by InterNations asked almost 12,000 respondents of 177 different nationalities who are living in 181 countries about quality of life, cost of living, safety, financial outlook, bureaucracy, and ease of fitting in the new home country.
City of Melbourne, Australia; Picture Source: @CANVA
Philipp von Plato and Malte Zeeck, the founders of InterNations, said in a foreword to their report that they have been conducting this survey annually since 2014 amongst expatriates, and “it was time for a new cycle of growth and development.” They added:
“The new Expat Essentials Index serves as a kind of compass that shows how expats navigate everyday life abroad, from entering a country to dealing with potential obstacles such as the language barrier.”
Migrants coming to settle in Australia rated the local economy positively and felt happy with both the working hours and fair wages. The survey noted that three-quarters were satisfied with their hours, and 70% were happy with their work-life balance. Australia is also home to around 670,000 Kiwi expats.
However, Jacinta Arden’s New Zealand was ranked poorly given its low wages and high cost of living. In fact, New Zealand performed very poorly on personal finance measures where 49% of migrants observed that their disposable household income was very less for them to lead a comfortable life. It was the worst-performing country in the survey’s health and wellbeing measure, rated negatively by 75% of respondents, compared with 35% globally.
Migrants noted that New Zealand was “too expensive”, and it was too hard for arrivals to get a job. One respondent from Botswana who calls New Zealand home, said: “The cost of living is too high here in comparison to the salaries.” While another migrant from India now settled in New Zealand reflected anxiously on the “growing divide between the rich and poor” as well as the rising costs for groceries, petrol and housing.
Mexico was ranked first in the survey, with Indonesia, Taiwan, Portugal, and Spain following closely. India was ranked number 36 above the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany.
Community consultation on forest management, near Banepa, Nepal, 2019 (Hemant Ojha)
By Hemant Ojha
For the past 20 years, I have been engaged with the question of how developing countries’ capacity for research for development can be strengthened. I confronted this in Nepal and more generally across South Asia. I argue that while developing countries have made significant strides in research capacity, donors have missed important opportunities to accelerate impact in this area.
Almost without exception, development donors put capacity building as a key outcome in every development program they fund. Capacity strengthening received a further boost in 2015 with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. All of the 17 goals have capacity development objectives embedded, with Goal 17 having an explicit target to “enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all sustainable development goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation” (SDG 17.9). However, rarely has this desire been translated into results.
In view of such limited success, the ‘how’ question of capacity development has become a major issue of debate in aid cooperation. Views differ between aid providers and receivers, and also across lines of development approach and ideologies. For example, human rights activists advocate for investing in awareness, agency and alliances; sectoral experts emphasise technical capacity; and development economists argue for a national database and capacity to manage it.
Of course, all of these aspects need strengthening, but my experience suggests that we need a different focus. I believe locally led research and development knowledge is key.
Let me use the example of Nepal’s community forestry development to show how investing in locally led research leads to useful development outcomes. Our recent paper explains how a new system of resource governance emerged through four decades of effort in action learning and capacity building.
When Nepal’s mountains faced massive land degradation in the 1970s, development partners from the Global North rushed to the country to support establishing large-scale plantations. However, this effort failed, as it was designed by external experts and implemented by a highly top-down government agency.
This failure led to critical reflection among development partners and national decision-makers, who then agreed to take a community-based approach to forest restoration and management. Donors invested in building local capacity to analyse problems and experiment with new solutions. This effort, over time, led to a major development success in the country, with the establishment of a nationwide community forestry system.
This was helped in the 1990s by the advent of a democratic system that created a conducive space for critical and independent research. Development partners began to support a multi-actor approach to forestry governance.
Research NGOs became strong players in the process of knowledge generation around community forestry development. A community of ‘critical action intellectuals’ – defined as people who contribute to systemic change though their intellectual work and political engagement – grew in number and influence. They were able to not only empower communities, but also challenge the dominant policy actors to create more democratic decision-making.
In another recently published paper, I and my co-authors have documented three case studies from Nepal, Kenya and Central America, where we have gathered evidence of development partners working with locally based critical action intellectuals, with transformative outcomes. We used the Nepal case as a framework to explore parallels in Africa and Central America.
In Kenya, an environmental sciences professor, Wangari Maathai, became the champion of regreening Kenya’s rural landscapes and tackling the rights of local people including women. Her work was recognised through a Nobel Prize, and has had significant influence on Kenya’s environmental policy and management landscape.
Similarly, other scholars created new institutions to pursue critical and action-oriented research, and produced critical analysis of the development problems as well as policy responses. They were able to build international partnerships in various ways, and various forms of development assistance were key to supporting their vision.
The Central American story focuses on indigenous people fighting for recognition of their rights to land. Locally based researchers and lawyers in Guatemala have assisted communities to defend their land rights in the face of increasing commercial pressures such as oil palm plantations. This story reinforces that locally based action research can lead to wider impact.
How can development partners support and strengthen locally led research for development? There are at least six ways.
First, development partners should incorporate local research capacity throughout development cooperation. Whether a development program is about fisheries or family planning, partners can allocate part of their investment to identifying and supporting locally based knowledge workers to undertake research, assessments, case studies, and policy analysis on key themes and issues related to the program. Decisions on these investments should be independent of the implementation of the program, so that space for independent analysis is reserved.
Second, development partners cannot directly confront the political or economic roots of development problems, but they can support local knowledge workers to do so. Development partners can agree with national governments to make an investment in research and policy analysis independent of their programs. Policy analysis and strategic planning led by local experts can generate contextually grounded solutions, which can ultimately increase the impact of a program.
Third, research-related investments should also explicitly support practice-based and transdisciplinary knowledge development. Too often, following the boundaries of academic disciplines does not lead to any usable knowledge.
Fourth, different countries and cultures have their own ways of creating and articulating evidence in decision-making, and donors can support local researchers to produce culturally grounded and policy-relevant knowledge which can better inform local practical discourse about change.
Fifth, development donors should support cross-institutional interactions and knowledge exchange among NGOs, academics, practitioners and policy actors. Such a knowledge interface can lead to new ideas and more appropriate development solutions.
Finally, in the globalised world, a huge potential for knowledge exchange and capacity development is arising around the ways in which diasporic intellectual associations have emerged in the Global North. These associations can be an important bridge for development cooperation between the Global North and the Global South.
To conclude, many developing countries have strong potential for in-country development management and policy research. Development partners should focus on how emerging local capacity can be further strengthened, so that development policy and practice are stimulated by locally rooted knowledge and ideas. There is of course value in South-North collaboration for knowledge development, but the emphasis should be on locally led research partnerships.
Contributing Author: Dr Hemant Ojha is an Associate Professor at the University of Canberra and a Principal Advisor at the Sydney-based Institute for Study and Development Worldwide (IFSD).
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was acquitted in 2005 for the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing that killed 331 people, has been shot dead in Surrey, BC, Canada, on Thursday morning.
Malik who was the founder of Khalsa school and Khalsa Credit Union was on his way to his work when he was shot by an unknown suspect. A witness in the 8200-block of 128 Street told CBC he heard three shots and that Malik was hit in the neck.
Surrey RCMP's media relations officer Const. Sarbjit Sangha says Ripudaman Singh Malik was provided first aid by attending officers until Emergency Health Services took over. He was later pronounced dead on the scene.
As per reports in local Canadian media, RCMP were called to the Newton neighbourhood of Surrey, over reports of gunfire around 9:30 a.m. At the scene of the crime, RCMP found Malik who was in his mid-70s suffering from gunshot wounds. He was provided first aid by attending officers until Emergency Health Services took over. Const. Sarbjit Sangha said in a news release:
“The man was provided first aid by attending officers until Emergency Health Services took over his care. The injured man succumbed to his injuries on scene.”
Investigators of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team believe Malik’s shooting was preplanned and targeted. Police found a suspect vehicle in the 12200-block of 82 Avenue engulfed in fire and believe a second getaway vehicle may have been involved.
— Gurpreet S. Sahota (@GurpreetSSahota) July 14, 2022
In 2019, Malik visited India after a gap of 25 years, and earlier this year he even wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for steps that the Indian government has taken for the Sikh community.
Canada-based Sikh leader Ripudaman Singh Malik has written a letter to Prime Minister @narendramodi Ji expressing his “deep heartfelt gratitude” for the unprecedented positive steps taken by the Modi government.@BJP4Indiahttps://t.co/idk6SjbRFH
Malik had observed in his letter to PM Modi: “I am writing you this to express my deep heartfelt gratitude for the unprecedented positive steps taken by yourself to redress long-reading Sikh demands and grievances including the elimination of blacklists that restricted visit to India of thousands of Sikhs living abroad, grant of passports and visas to asylees and their families, reopening of hundreds of 1984-riots closed cases leading to conviction and jail term for some, declaring 1984-riots as ‘genocide’ by then Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh on the floor of the House, giving compensation or Rs. 5.00 lakh per family of the anti-Sikh genocide victims, the opening of Sri Kartarpur Saheb Corridor facilitating pilgrims from India to visit the revered place of our first Master Guru Nanak Dev Ji.”
Canada-based Sikh leader Ripudaman Singh Malik has written a letter to PM @narendramodi for a number of steps taken for the #Sikh community. He expressed his “deep heartfelt gratitude” for the unprecedented positive steps taken by the him. pic.twitter.com/aN8owiH3uM
In another letter to the Sikh community, Malik had urged them to desist from vicious and motivated campaign. He wrote: “Violence in Punjab only ends up hurting the interests of the Sikh community in Punjab and throughout India and around the world. I do my daily Ardaas for world peace as I do not like seeing my community or any community suffer due to violence.”
It is being reported that some people were critical of Malik offering his support to PM Modi. As Malik had also shown concern at an “orchestrated campaign” and propaganda run by certain Khalistanis at the behest of some foreign power against PM Modi and India. Malik had promised to work with the government of India for redressal of pending issues related to the welfare of the Sikh community.
“Dosanjh thinks that it’s possible Malik’s recent support of the Indian government he once reviled could be a motive in the murder.”
This murder, on the heels of the Gandhi statue defacement, shows the Canadian Khalistan issue is turning violent again. https://t.co/mEWMd9D0FX
— Hindu American Foundation (@HinduAmerican) July 14, 2022
Former B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh knew Malik from the 1970s and also did the legal work pro bono to help Malik set up his first two charities — the Satnam Trust and the Satnam Education Society. Dosanjh told local media that it is possible that Malik’s recent support of the Modi government could be a motive in the murder. He said:
“Whenever somebody is felled by violence, one is saddened. Mr. Malik ostensibly played with violence in his life and it has likely come back to haunt him.”
Malik came to Canada in 1972 and initially worked as a taxi driver. Later, as a businessman, he opened many Khalsa schools along with an apparel business, Papillion Eastern Imports, with combined assets worth over $110 million. He had spent four years in prison from 2000-2004 for his alleged involvement with Babbar Khalsa in the Kanishka bombing on charges of providing finance for the Khalistani terrorist attack.
Kushal Kar, 'Voice of Adelaide' champion; Image Source: Supplied
Kushal Kar was the title winner of ‘Voice of Adelaide‘ organized by Colordot and Beats Adelaide. This popular Indian musical reality show was held at Woodville Townhall, Adelaide in South Australia.
Kushal Kar (Voice of Adelaide – Facebook)
Kushal, who is originally from Kolkata in India, migrated to Australia in 2015. He told The Australia Today that although he was born in Kolkata most of his professional life was spent in Mumbai where he took music and singing training under well-known guru Waqar Khan.
Kushal Kar, ‘Voice of Adelaide’ champion; Image Source: Supplied
“I have been singing since childhood, you can say I was born with great music around me! My mother used to sing Rabindra Sangeet and also encouraged me to take formal training in Indian classical music. When I moved to Mumbai for work, I thought of expanding my music pool with ghazals and Bollywood-style singing.”
Kushal Kar, ‘Voice of Adelaide’ champion; Image Source: Supplied
Out of the 54 shortlisted contestants and several live singing elimination rounds since September 2021, Kushal stood out with his versatile vocals. He sang evergreen Bollywood songs which received accolades from both the esteemed panel of judges and a round of applause from the audience.
Kushal says that winning such a contest is not easy but his versatility and years of training helped him get an edge over other contestants. He feels “grateful to the team of VoA, judges, all the co-contestants, his supporters, friends, and family for their unconditional support and encouragement.” Kushal proudly adds:
“A special shout out to my colleague and friend Tarun Rajani and my guruji Sri Waqar Khan.”
With this win, Kushal is looking forward to entertaining Bollywood music lovers in Australia and also abroad.
China's Xi Jinping Meets with Prime Minister Peter O'Neill of Papua New Guinea (MFA) [新华社照片，楠迪，2014年11月22日
习近平会见巴布亚新几内亚总理奥尼尔
11月22日，中国国家主席习近平在斐济楠迪会见巴布亚新几内亚总理奥尼尔。
新华社记者姚大伟摄]
By Shailendra B. Singh
For the Pacific news media sector, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent eight-nation South Pacific tour may be over, but it should not be forgotten. The minister and his 20-member ‘high-level’ delegation’s refusal to take local journalists’ questions opened a veritable can of worms that will resonate in Pacific media circles for a while.
However, Wang’s sulky silence should not be seen as isolated incident but embedded in deeper problems in media freedom and development for the Pacific.
Besides dealing with their own often hostile national governments and manoeuvring through ever-more restrictive legislation, Pacific media is increasingly having to contend with pressure from foreign elements as well. China is the most prominent in this regard, as underscored by Wang’s visit, but there have been other incidents of journalist obstruction involving countries like Indonesia as well.
What is particularly appalling is how some Pacific governments seem to have cooperated with foreign delegations to stop their national media from asking legitimate questions.
Fijian journalist Lice Mavono’s account of the extent to which local Fijian officials went to limit journalists’ ability to cover Wang’s visit is highly troubling. In scenes rarely seen before, Wang and Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s joint press conference was apparently managed by Chinese officials, even though it was on Fijian soil.
When some journalists defied instructions and yelled out their unapproved questions, a Chinese official shouted back at them to stop. One journalist was ordered to leave the room with a minder attempting to escort him out, but fellow journalists intervened.
Similar behaviour was witnessed at the Pacific Islands Forum-hosted meeting between Wang and Forum Secretary General Henry Puna, where Chinese officials continued to obstruct journalists even after forum officials intervened on the journalists’ behalf.
The Chinese officials’ determined efforts indicated that they came well prepared to thwart the media. It also conveyed their disrespect for the premier regional organisation in the Pacific, to the point of defying forum officials’ directives.
However, what should be most concerning for the region as a whole is the way this episode exposed the apparent ability of Chinese officials to influence, dominate, and even give instructions to local officials.
This is all the more disturbing as China is ramping up its engagement with Pacific governments. Consequently, longstanding questions about China’s impact on the region’s democratic and media institutions become even more urgent.
Indeed, just weeks after Wang’s visit, Solomon Islands media reported that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, in an extraordinary gazette, announced that the government would be taking full financial control of the state broadcaster, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC).
There are fears that this arrangement – which draw comparisons with the Chinese state-owned broadcaster CCTV – will give the government far more control over SIBC, potentially both editorially and in its day-to-day management.
This is troubling given Sogavare’s antagonism towards the SIBC, who he has accused of giving more airtime to government critics than to officials. Veteran Solomon Islands journalist Dorothy Wikham condemned the move, stating: “we now don’t have a public broadcaster!”
This trend indicates the need for additional steps to strengthen media rights by, among other things, boosting journalist professional capacity. This is simply because good journalists are more aware of and better able to safeguard media rights.
To this end, one area that clearly needs work is a greater focus on reporting regional events effectively. As major powers jostle for influence, and Pacific politics become ever more interconnected, what happens in one country will increasingly affect others. Journalists need to be aware of this and more strongly frame their stories through a regional lens. However, this won’t happen without focused and targeted training.
In this context, media research and development is an oft-overlooked pillar of media freedom. While all kinds of demands are made of Pacific journalists and much is expected of them, there seems to be little regard for their welfare and not much curiosity about what makes them tick.
To get an idea of how far behind the Pacific is in media research, it is worth considering that there has only been one multi-country survey of Pacific journalists’ demography, professional profiles and ethical beliefs in 30 years. This recent, important research yielded valuable data to better understand the health of Pacific media and the capabilities of Pacific journalists.
For instance, the data indicates that Pacific journalists are more inexperienced and under-qualified than counterparts in the rest of the world. In addition, the Pacific has among the highest rate of journalist attrition due to, among other things, uncompetitive salaries, a feature of small media systems.
So, while governments make much of biased journalists, they conveniently ignore the working conditions, training, education, and work experience that are needed to increase integrity and performance.
In other words, the problems in Pacific media are not solely the work of rogue elements in the news media, they are structural in nature. These factors are not helped by draconian legislation which is supposedly intended to ensure fairness, but in fact only further squeezes already restricted journalists.
This situation underscores the need for further research, which can identify and offer informed solutions to the problems in the sector. Yet, scholarships and fellowships for Pacific media research are as rare as hen’s teeth.
Furthermore, Wang’s Pacific visit and China’s activities in the region are a wake-up call for regional media as to the urgent need for capacity-building. Any remedial actions should be informed by research and need to consider problems in a holistic manner. As we have seen, ‘band-aid’ solutions at best provide only temporary relief, and at worst misdiagnose the problem.
This China fiasco is also a reminder to care about Pacific journalists, try to understand them and show concern for their welfare. We should not regard journalists as merely blunt instruments of news reporting. Rather, a free and democratic media is the lifeblood of a free and democratic Pacific.
This article has been republished from the ANU’s Asia and the Pacific Policy Society’s Policy Forum with the kind permission of the author.
Contributing Author: Dr Shailendra B Singh is the Head of Journalism at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
In an unprecedented cyberattack at Victoria’s Deakin University, the contact details of almost 47,000 current and past students have been hacked.
According to reports, the hacker(s) were able to access a staff member’s username, password, and other information held by a third-party provider. This breach further led to sending a text message to 9997 students. This message claimed that the students had a parcel available and requested payment for a customs fee.
The hacker(s) then went on to download the contact details of 46,980 current and former Deakin University students. The hacker(s) were able to access student names, student IDs, personal mobile numbers, email addresses, and also recent unit results.
Deakin University – Burwood Campus (Wikipedia)
Deakin university said in a statement that they took immediate action:
“Immediate action was taken by Deakin to stop any further SMS messages being sent to students and an investigation into the data breach was immediately commenced.”
Deakin University has further added that it is continuing to investigate the cyberattack incident and has also engaged the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner along with a third-party provider to improve its cybersecurity. It added:
“Deakin sincerely apologises to those impacted by this incident and wants to assure the Deakin community that it is conducting a thorough investigation to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.”
Deakin University is ranked among the top 1 per cent of universities in the world (QS Ranking) and has a large number of students, around 35%, from India enrolled in its various courses.
RMIT University (Wikipedia)
Earlier in 2021, RMIT University was forced to suspend new enrolments and some classes, and also deferred a plan for staff to return to campus after a cyberattack.
Australian Communication and Media Authority has recently introduced new rules protecting Australians from scam texts. According to the updated rules, telecommunication companies are required to identify, trace and block text scams, and publish information to help their customers manage and report scams.
Dr Monica-Kennedy, Senior Commissioner, Austrade; Image Source: Supplied
The Australia India Business Exchange (AIBX) India Market Updates 2022, hosted by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), was held in each capital city recently giving exporters actionable market insights into the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Australian businesses and exporters got the chance to quiz trade and investment experts about opportunities to break into the Indian market
Austrade’s General Manager, South Asia, Catherine Gallagher said India offers Australian goods and services exporters significant opportunities across education, agribusiness and food, technology, infrastructure, resources and energy.
By supporting the Australian and Indian business communities to engage with each other, we hope to build on existing momentum and support commercial success.”
Dr Monica-Kennedy, Senior Commissioner, Austrade; Image Source: Supplied
Joining the panel at the Melbourne Grand Hyatt was Dr Monica Kennedy, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner South Asia, Austrade, Frances Lisson PSM, Chief Negotiator, DFAT, Denise Eaton, Trade and Investment Commissioner South Asia, Austrade and Apurwa Sarve, Senior Manager Strategy & Emerging Markets, H&H Group (Swisse Wellness).
The discussion provided insights on the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement that was signed on 2 April. Once in force it will see tariffs eliminated on more than 85 per cent of Australian goods exports to India (valued at more than $12.6 billion a year), rising to almost 91 per cent (valued at $13.4 billion) over 10 years.
In an exclusive interview with The Australia Today, Dr Kennedy said “It’s an alignment of stars right at the moment” with regards to the Australia-India Education sector relationship.
India is the world’s largest democracy and one of the world’s fastest-growing major economy, with GDP projected to grow at 8.2 per cent in 2022-23.
One particular sector in focus was the education sector which is set to boom once the agreement is in place.
India is Australia’s second-largest source of international students. Export value of the Education sector to India was AUD 6.2 Bn in 2020. As of December 2021, there were 129,864 Indian students enrolled at Australian institutions.
Few points which are aiding the recruitment effort post covid:
Temporarily relaxed student visa work limits for all sector
Concessions on the TGV allowing enhanced PSWR, including additional year for STEM graduates
India roadshow and recruitment efforts of Universities and education partners
Study Australia Industry Engagement program
Enhanced employment options as a direct result of border reopening and all sectors of the Australian economy getting back to a state of normalcy
Indian international students studying in Australia contributed more than $6.4 billion to the economy in 2019, pre-COVID. India is Australia’s second-largest source market for international student enrolments, accounting for 15.2% of international students in 2019, pre-COVID, and 16.3% in 2022.
Image Source: Austrade
Two initiatives by Australia government:
The Digital Education Hub
The Digital Education Hub seeks to elevate Australia’s international education brand position in India, showcase Australia’s excellence in education and employability, and improve market literacy. The Hub comprises digital tools, tailored content and resources, virtual and physical events, and campaign activity funnelled via a flagship India landing page designed to drive increased demand and growth in high-quality student enrolments.
The Future skills initiative
The Australia India Future Skills Initiative will establish a digital platform, delivered in partnership with industry, to connect Australian vocational education, training and skills providers, Indian business, government, learners, and employers.
The initiative will:
Deliver leading Australian training capability to meet India’s key future skills needs
Support capability development and capacity building in India by upskilling India’s workforce through world-class Australian educational programs
Build strategic business relationships to establish Australia as a training partner of choice, upskill India’s workforce and support Indian careers through relevant employment pathways.
The initiative will have four components:
Australian training course search and delivery platform, purpose-built for Indian students
Promotion and profiling of Australian capability through business, learner, and employer success stories
Dedicated Austrade team across Australia and India – leadership and business development managers to secure industry partnerships and facilitate opportunities between Australian providers and Indian industry to deliver formal training qualifications and career pathway
Two-way skills missions to support Australian and Indian providers to connect with government and industry in India and Australia, to scope out prospective courses, pathways, and new products.
Impacts of AI-ECTA on Education:
Post Study visa:
Australia has for the first time confirmed post-study work rights in a side letter to a free trade agreement and will extend access for highly sought-after STEM and ICT graduates.
At the same time, former Indian students will also be able to live, study and work in Australia temporarily upon completion of their studies
Australia will maintain opportunities for former Indian students to live, study and work temporarily upon completion of a diploma or trade qualification (up to 18 months)
bachelor degree (up to two years)
masters degrees (up to three years)
doctoral degree (up to four years).
An additional year will be available for Indians who graduate with bachelor degrees in STEM and ICT with First Class Honours (from two to three years).
Visa Commitments
Australia has secured clarity around visa pathways and application procedures like periods of stay and other visa conditions from India to support outward mobility for businesses and professionals
This includes equivalent commitments on categories of the entrant, length of stay, spouses and dependents, but does not include a waiver of labour market testing.
This includes equivalent commitments on categories of the entrant, length of stay, spouses and dependents
In addition, India will provide a reciprocal work-based immigration route for Australians who successfully complete their studies and who wish to supplement their training with professional experience in India, to open up greater opportunities post-study.
Image Source: Austrade
Mutual Recognition Agreements
AI-ECTA will support establishing a Professional Services Working Group for the future facilitation of the mutual recognition of qualifications, licensing and registration procedures between professional services bodies.
These obligations include elements such as coverage of all licenses and regulated occupations, allowing for temporary/project-specific licenses where feasible and establishing a mechanism of the Working Group to pursue obligations related to this.
This will pave the way for initiating dialogues on Mutual Recognition Agreements in Nursing, Architecture and other professional services between the professional bodies of India and Australia, which in turn will facilitate the movement of professionals in each other’s territory.
New market access
Australia has provided new market access for culturally significant occupations for a combined total of 1,800 per year of
qualified professional traditional chefs and yoga instructors entering as contractual service suppliers of India.
Work and Holiday program.
Work and Holiday visa with multiple entries has been offered by Australia to 1000 young Indians, in the age group of 18-30 years, for a period of one year.
Under this, they can undertake study or training for up to four months (17 weeks) or undertake paid or unpaid employment for the entire duration of their stay in Australia, generally for up to six months with any one employer.
An Indian international student in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta has died in hospital following a house fire. According to the NSW Police, emergency services were called to a unit on Campbell Street following reports of a fire.
On arrival, officers attached to Parramatta Police Area Command found a third-floor unit well alight.
“A 27-year-old man was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics before being taken to Westmead hospital in a critical condition.”
Image Source: Parramatta Police Area Command Facebook)
The Indian Australian community has initiated fundraising for Raunak’s family, the student who died following the fire, so that his mortal remains can be sent back home to India. The gofundme page set up for the fundraising mentions that Raunak was the kind of guy who would go out of his way to help someone.
“Raunak came to Australia in Sep 2019 on a student visa and had big hopes of completing his Masters in Networking and was also supporting his parents and younger brother back home. He was in his last semester and planned to go to India in a couple of months to see his family but those future dreams and hopes of parents’ drying eyes to see their child will never come to life now.”
“He went too far too soon, putting his family in a loss which can never be filled. While studying he was also providing financial support to his parents back home.”
“This tragic incident will leave lifetime misery and pain for them. The objective of this fundraising is to provide that last financial support to the family in these tough times and to send the body back home after all the government clearances”, reads the fundraising appeal.
“The below units were evacuated as Fire and Rescue NSW officers extinguished the blaze. Just after 5am on Monday, the older man died in hospital. An investigation into the incident has commenced; the cause of the fire is yet to be determined.”
“A report will be prepared for the information of the Coroner. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages”, read a statement by the local Police.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Twitter)
By Bruce Mountain
Earlier today, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave his first major climate change speech, touting Australia’s future as a renewable superpower and promising Labor’s ambitious new renewable target would “unlock $52 billion of private sector investment.”
We’ve brought together businesses and governments from around the world to find solutions for cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy.
The Australian Government is working to deliver our plan for net zero emissions by 2050, while creating jobs and lowering power prices. pic.twitter.com/Ivrp4iGKIn
This follows Labor’s pre-election commitment to cut Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade, while boosting renewable electricity production to 82% of our electricity supply.
These goals are entwined. To cut emissions, we have to rapidly switch to renewables. That’s because the largest and cheapest emissions reductions are found by shifting electricity production to renewable sources. Since winning office, the Labor government has left no doubt about its commitment to these goals.
While the Greens have called for more rapid action, the goal to get to 82% renewables is much bigger than it seems. For the first time in a decade, the federal government is well out ahead of the states. Making this a reality, however, means tackling key missing parts of the clean energy shift: storage and grid modernisation. To galvanise change, my colleagues and I propose setting targets (and supporting policy) for storage as well as ramping up the renewable energy target.
Is the new government target really that big?
The government’s target isn’t plucked from thin air. It comes from the future scenario that Australia’s energy market operator, AEMO, said was deemed most likely by experts and stakeholders among all scenarios modelled in its 2022 Integrated System Plan.
If this 82% target is achieved, it really will be a step change. This target is four-fifths bigger than the targets of any of the coal-dependent eastern states, home to most of our population.
Victoria and Queensland are aiming for 50% renewables by 2030, while the New South Wales electricity roadmap is also consistent with a target of around 50%. Getting an extra 32% of renewables beyond this is ambitious, but entirely possible.
Tasmania hit 100% renewables last year and South Australia is well on its way to 100% renewables. But these successes are partly offset by the fossil fuel dependence of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and smaller grids elsewhere.
To reach 82% nationally, this means we will require roughly the same proportion of renewable electricity in the three big coal states. While the coal states are making progress, the federal government clearly wants them to go much faster.
How can we get there? Modelling by the market operator shows we need to build 45 gigawatts more wind and solar generation, plus 15GW of storage by the end of the decade. That will cost an estimated $115 billion for renewable energy and storage. Victoria and NSW in particular envisage private capital driving this investment.
In Australia, we have had policies encouraging renewable energy for 22 years. That’s given us about 32GW of renewable generation, of which about two-thirds is solar on the roofs of homes and businesses. Over this period, just 1GW of storage has been added – all of it from chemical batteries.
In short, this means we are set for a great acceleration. To achieve the 82% target means building renewables around five times faster than we have over the past two decades, and building storage at about ten times the rate of the past five years.
Undertaking this massive transformation so quickly will require serious policy support. To that end, we’ve proposed a Renewable Electricity Storage Target, to accelerate the storage build.
We believe this would work, as it is based on the highly successful Renewable Energy Targets supported by successive federal Labor governments, and it can be developed and implemented quickly.
To supercharge the renewable expansion will also require policy support. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Greatly expanding the Renewable Energy Target is one proven way to do this.
Producing the power is useless if we can’t transmit it. Modernising our grid is crucial too. Here, too, all threecoal states are making good headway in innovative arrangements to improve transmission and grid access.
Power prices are likely to be a stumbling block
There’s no obvious financing issue for transmission. The challenges here are about connection, regulatory approval and community support. The Albanese government can help by letting a thousand flowers bloom rather than constraining developments through centrally imposed uniformity.
Before the election, Labor promised to cut household power bills by $275 per year by 2025. Wholesale electricity prices climbed to stratospheric highs before the May election, and have stayed there ever since. Unless these prices drop – and it is increasingly uncertain they will – households will be facing huge retail electricity price increases.
This is likely to pose serious problems for many low-income households. The federal government will be pressured to do something about it. But this, too, will be hard, given there are much tougher budgets flagged.
Does this mean the 82% target is unattainable? No, but arcane debates on market design must play second fiddle to decisive storage and renewable electricity policy. And the government will have to plan very carefully how it directs public money to achieve its goals – while helping the states to put out menacing energy price spot fires as well.
This article has been republished from The Conversationunder a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Author: Bruce Mountain is Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
A 59-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter after he allegedly operated a forklift that killed 40-year-old Indian-Australian truck driver Baljinder Singh in Sydney.
On 1 February 2021, around 12.30 pm, Baljinder Singh was killed in a tragic incident at St Marys after he became pinned between a truck and a forklift.
According to an online fundraiser page set up shortly after the incident to assist Baljinder Singh’s family with funeral costs, he was described as “a God-fearing, lovable and kindhearted person” who was “dedicated to his family and supportive of his friends.” The family wrote:
“He was a man, you could always count on, whatever you needed, Baljinder was there without question. It is now our time to be there for him.”
The family further wrote:
‘”We can’t imagine how hard is for the family especially kids that needed him the most. This unfortunate loss cannot be overcome for the years to come but we can help and support the family financially and emotionally.”
Detectives from the Nepean Police Area Command report that the man who was allegedly operating the forklift prior to the incident will be produced before the Penrith Local Court. This man has been charged with manslaughter following an extensive investigation conducted by the detectives after the fatal incident.
Baljinder Singh (GoFundMe)
The funding page raised more than $28,500 and Baljinder Singh was cremated on 21 February 2021 at Pinegrove Memorial Park, Minchinbury, in the presence of his parents who arrived in Australia to attend the funeral.
Baljinder Singh migrated to Australia from Punjab in 2004 and lived with his family in Blacktown. He is survived by a wife and three young daughters aged 4, 12 and 14.
Indian-Australian entrepreneur Nilesh Makwana who lives in Perth, Western Australia, has charted his inspiring journey from bicycle to business class in a book.
Nilesh Makwana (LinkedIn)
Nilesh is the co-founder and CEO of Illuminance Solutions, a National Technology Company, and a Microsoft Global Partner for Social Impact. His new book entitled “Terminal 4 – An Entrepreneur’s Journey from Bicycle to Business Class” was launched in Delhi on 12 July 2022.
Hon. Roger Cook launching Nilesh Makwana’s book in Delhi (Image supplied)
Nilesh told The Australia Today that this book tells his story and takes readers from his childhood in India to studies in the UK and Australia, and his business ventures. He adds that his book is told through the lens of a migrant:
“HOW AN INDIAN HIGH SCHOOL FAILURE, WHO, DESPITE NOT BEING SUCCESSFUL ACADEMICALLY, TRAVELS THE WORLD AND EVENTUALLY BECOMES A GLOBAL AWARD-WINNING ENTREPRENEUR IN AUSTRALIA, AND LECTURER TO MASTER LEVEL STUDENT AT AN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY.”
ilesh Makwana’s book at Mumbai Airport (Linkedin)
Nilesh adds that the initial idea behind writing this book was to pay it forward. He says:
“WHEN I SET OUT WRITING THIS BOOK THE IDEA WAS TO PAY FORWARD THE LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED THROUGHOUT MY LIFE, EITHER AS A SCHOOL DROPOUT LATER BECOMING A LECTURER AT AN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, OR AS A YOUNG KID SELLING PENS AND STICKERS TO FULFILLING MY ENTREPRENEURIAL STREAK WITH MY NOW BUSINESS ILLUMINANCE SOLUTIONS.“
Nilesh Makwana at Mumbai Airport (LinkedIn)
Nilesh also mentors a lot of young migrants in Australia and advises start-ups in India. He observes:
“I AM APPROACHED BY YOUNG MIGRANTS AND ENTREPRENEURS ON A DAILY BASIS FOR GUIDANCE ON HOW TO AND WHAT TO, AND I THOUGHT A BOOK COULD BE OF HELP FOR THEM. I NOW REALISE THAT IT GREW INTO SOMETHING ELSE AS WELL, AND THAT PEOPLE AND BUSINESS LEADERS WHO DEAL WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS, MIGRANTS AND ENTREPRENEURS CAN LEARN A THING OR TWO FROM THE BOOK, GETTING TO KNOW HOW IT MIGHT BE TO BE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THINGS. I ALSO EXPECT THAT THE BOOK COULD BE AN ASSET FOR YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS AND STUDENTS TO READ BEFORE THEY EMBARK ON THEIR JOURNEY.”
The WA Deputy Premier Hon. Roger Cook MLA and WA International Education Minister Hon. David Templeman MLA will be in attendance. The launch of Nilesh’s book coincides with the Western Australian government’s investment and trade mission to India.
Hon. Roger Cook with WA delegation (Image: Roger Cook – LinkedIn)
This will see key WA Government and business representatives visit Delhi, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Chennai to build stronger economic and cultural ties with India.
WA Deputy Premier Hon. Roger Cook (WA govt.)
The Deputy Premier Cook observed that he was pleased to support Nilesh’s book launch to highlight Perth as a place where people from India “can live, learn and launch their entrepreneurial journey.” He added:
“Nilesh Makwana’s entrepreneurial story is a great example of the positive impact Indian migrants have made to not only WA’s business community, but the wider community.”
India is WA’s largest international student market, accounting for 20 per cent of enrolments in 2021. The launch of Nilesh’s book also follows the reopening of the WA border and the welcoming of international students back to Perth.
WA International Education Minister Hon. David Templeman (WA govt.)
Minister Templeman said he hoped Nilesh’s story would encourage India’s tertiary students of the future to think about what WA has to offer. He further observed:
“With our world-class universities, strong economy, wealth of job opportunities and desirable lifestyle, WA is a study destination like no other.”
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella‘s portrait by Lene Makwana – Microsoft Inspire conference in Las Vegas 2019 (LinkedIn)
In June 2019, Nilesh’s start-up beat 3000 other nominees for the partner for social impact award. This was presented to him for his company’s AvantCare customer relationship management software that was developed for not-for-profits to better manage clients in the NDIS era. Nilesh told media:
“That was the first global award ever given by Microsoft to any partner for social impact and we happened to be that company, it was bizarre, crazy, unbelievable news.”
Nilesh Makwana at Mumbai Airport (Linkedin)
Nilesh has been an Australia Day Council Ambassador and with his interactions with community members he inspires Australians to be more diverse and inclusive. With his new book, Nilesh hopes tha it would “inspire other young men and women to believe that their dreams are achievable with tenacity and hard work.”
Nilesh Makwana with Hon. Roger Cook at the book launch in Delhi (Image supplied)
Nilesh says that at this stage there is no plan to write another book, but HALO Films and Seadog TV International based in Perth has commenced the work on a documentary based on this book.
Nilesh has also established a NGO, Borderless Gandhi, With his wife, Lene, who is a Norwegian artist, to promote Mahatma Gandhi’s message of peace, equality and non-violence through various artistic reflections.
Palash and Parin missing from the Parramatta area have been located safe and well.
NSW Police has thanked the help of community and media for their assistance. We at ‘The Australia Today’ received hundreds of messages from our readers who volunteered to help and support the campaign.
Both boys were located in Merrylands Monday 11 July afternoon after vigilant community members’ support and NSW Police inquiries.
Missing Boys at Parramatta; Image Source: NSW Police
The two brothers aged 15 and 10, were last seen in the Parramatta area at about 9 am on Tuesday (5 July 2022).
After failing to return home, officers attached to Blacktown Police Area Command were notified on Wednesday (6 July 2022) and commenced inquiries to locate them.
Anyone with information about any incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: at 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Pieces of information are treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.
What do a Geraldton fisherman, a Perth university Vice-Chancellor, a Pilbara mining executive and a Margaret River winemaker have in common?
They will all be in India tomorrow as part of the biggest ever business delegation ever to leave Western Australia.
What unites these seemingly different operations is an eye to the future in the land of a billion opportunities. This is the most ambitious investment and trade mission so far since Australia re-opened its international border.
There will be about 110 business people from 73 organisations, along with myself and the Minister for International Education and Culture and the Arts, David Templeman.
Where we are headed in the world’s second-most populous nation and the world’s largest democracy of around 1.4 billion.
But it is not just the size of India that makes it a key international market for WA.
India’s population is young and its economy is rapidly growing and changing. Their economy is diversifying through industrial and manufacturing growth and increased consumption from its rising middle class.
I have been spreading the message for some time now that WA is open for business and open for tourism; open for investors and open for workers and studies.
WA has one of the strongest economies in the world matched with a safe and relaxed lifestyle reinforced by our world-leading COVID-19 management.
The Premier and I have both been on various strategic trips to key and emerging investment and trade markets to spread these messages
They include Singapore (where tourism to WA in May bounced back exceptionally well), Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Qatar.
This week I want a strong message to be heard that we are serious about our engagement with India and we want to lift the relationship.
India tourism to WA was above 80 per cent of pre-COVID levels last month. We’re pushing hard for a direct flight between Perth and India to make it even easier to get here
India’s GDP is about $US3 trillion but to unlock the significant opportunities ahead, we must foster even closer economic and cultural ties. That’s where this investment and trade mission comes into play as part of our diversification strategy.
The businesses on the delegation fall within six different streams: international education and skilled migration; mining and mining equipment, technology and services; energy; innovation hubs and smart cities; primary industries; and tourism, events and creative industries.
Over the course of the eight-day mission, we will travel to four cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Chennai.
Delegates will participate in an extensive program of activities, including government and corporate meetings, site visits, industry briefings and roundtables, one-to-one business matching, and networking events with the Indian government and industry representatives.
In 2021, India was WA’s seventh-largest trading partner with total trade valued at A$4.6 billion.
Last year, WA accounted for 17 per cent of total goods trade between Australia and India.
International education is a flagship example of how WA is well placed to provide the services that a growing Indian economy will need. Although India is already WA’s largest market for international students, accounting for just over 20 per cent of enrolments in 2021, there is still room to grow.
It is estimated India’s tertiary-age population is the largest in the world, projected to peak at 126 million in 2026.
As noted by the ‘An Indian Economic Strategy by 2035’ report, India aims to lift the enrolment rate in higher education from 27 per cent to 50 per cent by 2030. With our world-class universities, strong economy, the wealth of job opportunities and desirable lifestyle, WA is an attractive option for Indian students.
The University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and Notre Dame University are all on this mission, as well as several TAFE colleges and StudyPerth.
The energy sector is also well represented with Woodside, Fortescue Future Industries, Rio Tinto, Roy Hill and Atlas Iron joining the delegation.
The mix of WA businesses on the mission is really interesting and should make for some engaging cross-industry conversations.
ScreenWest will be looking closely at the Indian film industry while the Geraldton Fisherman’s Co-op, Western Rock Lobster and Moss Wood winery will be exploring potential export opportunities.
The WA Government first established an investment and trade office in India in 1996. Located in Mumbai, the office has been open for more than 25 years.
During the mission, I will be opening a second Indian office in Chennai.
The timing of this week’s WA trade and investment mission is also important.
It comes just three months after Australia signed the historic free trade agreement with India – the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement – that will make Australian exports to India cheaper and create even more opportunities for WA businesses.
Tariffs will be eliminated on more than 85 per cent of Australian goods exported to India.
The relationship between Western Australia and India is also supported by the Western Australia Andhra Pradesh Sister-State Relationship Agreement.
So this week we will start writing another important chapter in the narrative between India and Western Australia.
The government-to-government and business-to-business engagement will strengthen our economic and cultural relationship with India for decades to come.
Contributing Authors: Hon. Roger Cook MLA is Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade; Tourism; Commerce; Science, Western Australia.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
A new study has found that having hard-to-pronounce names results in poorer job placements for people with PhDs. The working paper is based on the real-world employment outcomes of some 1,500 economics job candidates from about 100 PhD programs following the 2016–17 to 2017–18 market cycles in the US.
The authors, Qe Gi and Stephen Wu found that having a hard-to-pronounce name is associated with a significantly lower likelihood of getting an academic job or obtaining a tenure-track position at a university. Their paper notes that there is “strong evidence for labor market discrimination against individuals with names that are hard to pronounce.” It adds:
“Job candidates with difficult-to-pronounce names are much less likely to be placed into an academic job or to land a tenure-track position, and also are placed in jobs at much lower ranked institutions, as measured by research productivity. These results are statistically significant and economically large in magnitude.”
Fiona Price (Image supplied)
Fiona Price, a Melbourne-based cross-cultural communication specialist and expert on multicultural names, believes that the real problem here doesn’t lie with the people with names from languages other than English. She says:
“It lies with the large proportion of native English speakers who are monolingual and lack the knowledge, confidence and linguistic skills to navigate culturally diverse names.”
Gi and Wu note that their research doesn’t pinpoint what causes such discrimination, but they do have a guess: the initial screening process at a university “generally involves committees getting together to discuss names of potential candidates, which may lead to some subconscious discrimination against names that are harder to pronounce and/or remember.”
Further, after the screening stage, it is possible that candidates with similar qualifications but with “easier names are viewed more favorably during the initial and final stages of interviews.”
Dr Ritesh Chugh, Associate Professor at CQ University (Facebook)
Dr Ritesh Chugh, Associate Professor at CQ University, points out that this isn’t the first study on name discrimination and won’t be the last either. He says that many similar studies globally have found that name-based discrimination is rife in different contexts – job interviews and hiring, university places, and rental housing.
“So, while studies show that non-Anglo names are negatively discriminated against, it doesn’t mean people should change their names because names often have cultural significance and represent an individual’s identity.”
Dr Chugh adds that in multicultural Australia, there is an urgent need to create more awareness and acceptance of different names from ethnic minorities. He adds:
“Changing names to Anglo versions to suit the work environment doesn’t help create greater acceptance. Moreover, changing a name is akin to losing one’s identity. Instead, whenever someone mispronounces your real name, it is important to correct it, rather than change it.
Many recruiters have trialled blind resumes where name and gender are removed to rule out unconscious bias. Perhaps, it is time to make that a standard practice. Singh, Sharma, Sheng or Smith should all be considered equally for a job. Everyone deserves a fair-go based on skills and knowledge rather than their name.”
Fiona adds that the name bias isn’t unconscious, it is very conscious – “It’s like avoiding names that might expose their ignorance and get them into trouble!” As a solution to make highly skilled people confident in the job market, Fiona also suggests educating the native English speaker. She adds:
“Rather than placing the responsibility on the bearers of ‘challenging’ names to anglicise their names, and/or pushing for new policies aimed at reducing name discrimination (such as compulsory anonymising of CVs), why don’t we give native English speakers the tools they need to handle a wider variety of names?
This is a win-win: English speakers would enlarge their skill set and the talent pool they can confidently draw on; applicants with diverse names would feel more confident about sending in applications with their own names and knowing they would be evaluated fairly.”
The latest research also suggests that name discrimination is not restricted to merely hiring and possibly goes beyond the hiring stage as some individuals adapt to an Anglicized first name for acceptance and career growth.
Australians pay too much income tax – or so some argue.
The Australian Financial Review’s economics editor, John Kehoe, for example, has noted:
Australians are paying more personal income tax as a share of government revenue than any other advanced economy, except for the high-taxing Scandinavian welfare state of Denmark.
And the day after the federal election, the AFR editorialised:
Too heavy reliance on taxing productive workers and business earnings blunts incentives to work, save and invest.
Perhaps even more stinging is that the AFR considers New Zealand to have a better income-tax system. New Zealanders pay 10.5% on their first NZ$14,000 (then 17.5% up to NZ$48,000), while Australians enjoy a tax-free threshold up to A$18,200. The AFR says this:
creates tax-penalty work disincentives that partly explain New Zealand’s approximately 5% higher rate of workforce participation than Australia.
Are these issues really a problem? If there is a case for tax reform, what sort of reform?
High individual income tax
In 2019 (the most recent year for which the OECD has complete statistics), Australia ranked second among OECD member on personal income tax as a share of total taxes.
In fact, it has ranked second or third in 36 of the past 40 years, and fourth in the other four years, swapping places with New Zealand and the United States.
But that’s just part of the picture
Overall, Australia’s level of taxation, measured as a proportion of GDP, is relatively low – 27.7% to the OECD average of 33.4%.
That makes Australia the 29th lowest-taxing nation of the OECD’s 38 members.
Other nations have social security taxes
The main reason Australia ranks so highly on individual income tax levels is because Australians don’t pay separate social security taxes.
Australia, New Zealand and Denmark fund social security from general government revenue. The other 35 OECD nations levy specific taxes on employers and employees to fund social security systems (unemployment support, age and disability pensions etc)
These account for an average 25.9% of total tax revenue, or close to 9% of GDP, across the OECD.
Employee social security contributions are very similar to income taxes. They are generally collected the same way as income taxes, and counted as direct taxes on households or individuals in income surveys.
Though employers also pay social security taxes, evidence suggests about two-thirds of these are effectively paid by employees through lower wages.
In fact, if we add together personal income taxes and social security contributions, then Australia, rather than having the second-highest share of income taxes in the OECD, has the eighth-lowest.
What about superannuation?
Some say Australia’s compulsory superannuation scheme, in which employers pay 10.5% of an employee’s wage as super, should be counted in these tax measures, because it is similar to social security contributions in other countries.
12 other OECD countries have mandatory employer-paid private pension schemes.
Employers pay this money directly into private accounts, not to the government, so it doesn’t meet the definition of a tax.
But for argument’s sake we can factor in super payments using “tax wedge” data.
Combining mandatory payments
A tax wedge is the ratio between the amount of taxes paid by an average worker (assumed to be single without dependents) and the corresponding total labour cost for the employer.
The important point here is that wedge data include both what employers pay as mandatory private payments and as mandatory payments into government social security.
On this measure, Australia’s direct tax burden is the 11th lowest in the OECD.
So claims we have very high shares of personal income taxes are only part of the picture. Superannuation does not change the story significantly.
So what about New Zealand?
New Zealand does collect more revenue through consumption taxes – 12.5% of GDP in 2019, compared to 7.3% for Australia.
Even so, there are things to learn from New Zealand.
Australia’s system could be structured better. As Louis XIV’s finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), said, the art of taxation is about “plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing”.
Income taxes are highly visible. This may make us more ready to believe we are highly taxed. There is a case for considering tax reforms that deliver adequate revenue more fairly.
New Zealand is in the process of this change, with its proposed Social Unemployment Insurance scheme being funded by a 1.39% levy on employers and workers.
Last month the Australian Treasury’s secretary, Steven Kennedy, said in a speech it was possible for the government to spend more on things “that improve lives”, such as higher-quality aged care and disability services, “while reducing pressures arising from poorly designed policies”:
We will need a tax system fit for purpose to pay for these services, that appropriately balances fairness and efficiency. This is achievable.“
Given the inevitable challenges of an ageing population, climate change and international uncertainty, anything that moves the national conversation on from misleading comparisons with other nations can only help.
This article has been republished from The Conversationunder a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Author: Peter Whiteford is Professor at Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
The exploitation of vegetation by human beings has history dating back to the remote past. With increasing population of humans, the pressure on the vegetation has also increased beyond all conceivable proportions. Humans have not only destroyed the natural communities, but also disturbed the environment by polluting the whole ecosystem.
Further, the extravagant wastage of natural resources – natural communities and their environments, particularly the soil, vegetation, etc. have created a serious situation. The problem is as to what will happen to our future generation if the natural resources are going to be destroyed or consumed at this rapid pace.
In several states of India, the attention is now being paid to protect the natural resources by not harming them and to devise ecological ways and means to use the natural resources to the fullest extent without in anyway diminishing their continued availability for future needs. The natural resources can be rebuilt or maintained at present level if we understand and apply the ecological principles and restrict our activities to the limits to known biological laws. The ecological knowledge is for human welfare which can be studied on the basis of awareness regarding :-
Conservation of soil, water and wild life etc.,
Agriculture,
Gardening,
Plantation etc.
Delhi state is situated along the river Yamuna. The climate of Delhi is periodic. The three distinct seasons are :-
A dry and extremely hot season from March to June
A rainy season from July to September
A dry and cold winter from October to February.
The west winds are dry and hot in summer, the north-west winds are dry and cold in winter and easterlies bring humidity, cloudiness and rains in the rainy season. The rainfall is low. This alternation of temperature extremes is not favourable for the growth of luxuriant vegetation. Considerable biotic interference coupled with cutting and destruction of trees or plants have modified the original vegetation and the growth of the trees in Delhi. The increasing danger of environmental destruction by exploiting the vegetation has now been realised by several NGOs, environmentalists, etc. At Delhi University, many teachers, students and university non-teaching staff members are working on the same.
Among NGOs, Eco Care Centre, a registered organization (registered in May 1997) worked with full power to enforce effective measures to protect trees in the campus area at various levels. Chair person of the centre Dr. Ashok Jain along with me and many members of Eco Care Centre traced many sources of air-borne wastes, liquid and solid wastes of in and around Delhi University especially the north campus area.
Dr Ashok Jain organized several long marches which included removing the holdings from the trees, removing the plastic bags from the roads etc. in the North Campus area of Delhi University along with many researchers (I as a research student activist and environmentalist was also a part of many activities organized by the same NGO after 2000), teachers, Delhi University Workers, Non teaching staff members and Gardeners, in the beginning of 21st century (i.e. 2000-2006). Due to the lacking of the funds we had to stop further big budget activities after 2007; however the organization/centre is still active. We raised certain significant environmental issues regarding protecting tree trunks from big nails, holdings, removing plastic bags from the road sides of campus area.
Eco Care Centre started a procession from Vivekanand statue in the North campus, Delhi University in the morning (05.06.1999) for cleaning the campus. A small delegation of the centre was given permission to enter Vidhan Sabha with a memorandum.
Chief Minister of Delhi and Vice Chancellor of Delhi University participated in the campaigning organized by the centre in 2000.
We started the campaigning for tree plantation at large scale on the environment day in 2005. Many teachers including me, research scholars, reputed personalities, gardeners and several staff members of the University of Delhi planted different species of trees in the North Campus area of Delhi University.
We appeal tothe people of Delhi
It is a natural fact that no human being can survive without oxygen. Oxygen is provided to us by nature through trees free of cost. We all should realize the importance of tree and their protection. We all should be careful that trees should not be nailed for using them as advertisement pillars. A tree has a life like us.
Nailing a tree is similar to crucify them by human beings. Covering the tree trunks with advertisement holdings or boards not only disfigure the trees but also reduces their life span to half. When we nail trees we destroy their living tissues and life supporting chemicals that can also develop different infections in the tree trunks. This kind of nailing the tree has already killed many 50- 200 old trees in and around Delhi area. This results in enhanced pollution level, increased temperature, less soil moisture and decreased O2 level in Delhi.
Plastic and synthetic goods are modern group of materials having being commonly used for more than 60 years. The generic term ‘Plastic’ refers to wide range modern products and indeed does not limit itself to the polymer, but also includes formulations, composites and co-polymers. In case plastic undergoes complete chemical degradation, the bulk of the ultimate end products (CO2, HO2, CH4) will of course contribute to the greenhouse effect.
Today’s typical plastics are manufactured from scarce fossil fuel resources in an energy-intensive fashion, often producing significant amounts of pollution as a by-product. For these reasons we all should avoid plastic products.
At my institution, Rajdhani College, when I was given the responsibility as a convener of the committee on Environment and related Issues, the committee organized a Webinar- EIA Draft on 24th August, 2020. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) released a new draft – Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 on March 12, 2020. EIA is a legal framework for regulating activities that access, utilize and pollute natural resources. Prof. Rajesh Giri (Principal of the College), Prof. Pankaj Garg , Ms. Sana, Dr. Tapasya and all the members of the organizing committee gave their full support in organizing the Webinar.
The increasing danger of environmental pollution has now been taken seriously into consideration by the governments of almost all the countries so the government of India. Now several organizations, academic or non-academic institutions, NGOs, nature lovers discuss about this issue in great details openly by organizing the seminars, conferences, talks, lectures, social meetings etc. in India for the awareness.
Several Indian scientists, environmentalists, nature lovers, nature wild life photographers and the social workers have given many suggestions to combat the menace of environmental pollution. This is our duty to identify the causes of pollution, to arrange certain awareness programs and also to find out the neutralizers or the adequate solutions for every pollutant.
It has been rightly said that “in the course of our progress from one age to another we as human beings have simply passed from a sav-age to sew-age.” So, if we can take this small step to save our environment, we appeal to the people of Delhi as well as other parts of the world to campaign for tree plantation at large scale.
Contributing Author: Dr. Chander Shekhar Singh is currently an Associate Professor and teacher In-Charge at Department of Linguistics at Rajdhani College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India. He has to his credit four authored books in Linguistics and one edited book on environmental studies. He has also participated in many campaign programs related to environment awareness issues.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
HIT: The First Case releasing on 15th July in Australia (Image source: Mind Blowing Films)
The movie ‘HIT: The First Case’ is a action thriller with Rajkumar Rao playing ‘Vikram Jaisingh’, a 32 years old police officer working for the homicide Intervention Team (HIT) of Rajasthan who is battling with his own traumatic past.
‘Vikram’ gets advised by his well-wishers and his girlfriend, to take a sabbatical and heal. But, when an 18 year old girl called Preethi goes mysteriously missing on the ring road of Jaipur, ‘Vikram’ realizes that the case has a personal connection and he has no other option but to step in and find the girl, despite the investigation inducing panic attacks and anxiety at every stage.
The lead pair of the film Rajkumar Rao and Sanya Malhotra spoke to The Australia Today to let us know more about the movie. Catch this fun filled interview with the two here who also tell us about an Australian connection to the movie.
HIT: The First Case is written and directed by Sailesh Kolanu and is a remake of the Telugu film by the same name also directed by Sailesh.
I’ve always wanted to be a historian. From childhood, I was captivated by the idea of spending my days bringing the past to life. At first, I aspired to be a historical consultant on BBC period dramas. Later, I set my sights on becoming a professor.
I’ve dedicated my adult life to this goal. I jumped straight into studying history after leaving school and never really stopped. Over the 17 years since I was 17, there’s only been a single semester when I wasn’t a student or employee of a university history department.
If right-wing pundits are to be believed, this means my formative years have been spent amidst “cultural Marxists” bent on revolution. In the conservative imagination, humanities departments are where vulnerable youth are brainwashed into a radical leftist agenda. Of course, as those inside higher education know, this is a laughable notion. Today’s universities are neoliberal bureaucracies, profit-driven enterprises more akin to a giant corporation than a cultural wing of the communist party.
Yet, it’s also true that, on this continent, the history profession is a self-consciously “progressive” domain. We critique the drum-beating nationalism of Anzac mythology. We’re proud of the discipline’s role in forcing truth-telling about frontier violence. We call for greater care for our environment and question the inequities of capitalism. Feminism is embraced and women loom large among the professional leadership.
All this makes it easy to imagine historians as the good guys, truth-tellers on the right side of history. All this made it easy for me to assume innocence and pretend my own craft of history-making is removed from the bloody histories we interrogate.
Of course, I’d long known that the university and its pursuit of knowledge was part of the colonial project. I knew archaeologists had stolen Indigenous remains and anthropologists had constructed Indigeneity as a savage Other. I understood that racism was given legitimacy by scientists measuring skulls.
But I stopped short of asking how my own discipline was and remains implicated in this colonising work. A century ago, historians had celebrated powerful white men and omitted everyone else, but surely things were different these days? In the 21st century, History (as a discipline) seemed a benign force, a champion of underdogs and a voice of truth and justice.
Blood on its hands
For these reasons, Priya Satia’s Time’s Monster: History, Conscience and Britain’s Empire landed like a bomb in my brain. In this 2020 book, Satia maps how the “historical discipline helped make empire – by making it ethically thinkable”. Far from being innocent observers, “historians were key architects of empire”.
Satia is not the first to identify links between history making and imperialism. Postcolonial historians like Dipesh Chakrabarty argued back in the 1990s that the history profession reflected and reproduced Eurocentric visions of the world.
Yet Satia, an award-winning Stanford professor who specialises in British history, has written the first book-length study that explains exactly how historians helped make empire. In painstaking detail, she shows that History has blood on its hands.
How did this work, exactly?
From the 18th century, historians taught us to understand the world as a story of progress. They popularised the now taken-for-granted idea that time operates as a linear pathway, moving from a backward past towards an enlightened future.
Political philosopher James Mill, for instance, writing in his hugely influential 1818 History of British India, explained that
every society may progress if it chooses, or can be shown how to do so, but it will then follow the same road which advanced societies have taken before it and acquire the same features which everywhere distinguish barbarism from civilization.
Progress is the idea of history as a story of perpetual change and improvement. It is time as a straight line, a highway from darkness to light. This meant that the future would always eclipse what had gone before.
Green-lighting conquest
This time-as-progress thinking gave a green light to conquest and exploitation by making them “ethically thinkable”. As Satia puts it,
[t]he major forces of [modern] history – imperialism, industrial capitalism, nationalism – were justified by notions of progress and thus liable to rationalisations about noble ends justifying ignoble means.
Destruction, violence, suffering – all were excusable because they were stepping stones towards a glorious tomorrow. Thanks to the progress narratives invented by historians, “dreams of utopian ends again and again justified horrific means.”
In other words, my profession forged ways of thinking that enabled the destruction of countless lives – not to mention the unfolding destruction of the planet itself. And although History has become more inclusive and critical of power in recent decades, its foundational assumptions remain largely unchanged.
Even as we expose frontier massacres, academic historians still reproduce the linear temporal scripts that oiled the wheels of territorial expansion and ceaseless economic growth. We remain wedded to ideas about time that made empire “ethically thinkable”.
As a result, History “has yet to come to terms with its role as time’s monster”. Preoccupied with our own embattled position in contemporary culture wars, today’s historians rarely acknowledge that our forebears were not, as Satia writes, “critics but abettors of those in power”. Unlike other disciplines such as anthropology, History has largely neglected to reckon with its own troubled history.
Different notions of time
After reading Time’s Monster, I can’t unsee History’s monstrosity. After 17 years of learning to think like a historian, I’m facing up to the violence implicit in my profession’s way of making sense of the world. It’s a great unlearning, a brain-stretching effort to think outside my established habits of thought.
As a result, I’m opening up to the possibility of radically different forms of history-making. What would it look like for History to truly reckon with and learn from its past? How could we make History anew?
According to Satia, “what is required is not so much progress as recovery from the imaginary of progress”. It’s crucial that we challenge the idea of “directional history” and “recover different notions of time”.
What if, instead of assuming that time tracks along a straight line towards the horizon, we could imagine time as cyclical, as many Indigenous societies already do?
Already there are moves in this direction. In Making Australian History (2022), Anna Clark eschews conventional chronology because it “inadequately incorporates other forms of historical temporalities, such as Indigenous histories that reach across time and space simultaneously.”
New scholarship
However, for different notions of time to truly take hold, white settlers like Clark and myself may need to take a back seat. We can create space for others, we can support others, but surely the beneficiaries of empire cannot ourselves disentangle History from its imperial roots.
Instead we need to look to voices like Margo Neale, whose 2020 book Songlines, co-authored with Lynne Kelly, shares First Nations conceptions of time and archives; Mykaela Saunders, whose 2022 essay Everywhen explains that, for Aboriginal peoples, “all things that have happened are still happening now”; and Samia Khatun, whose 2018 history Australianama is an effort to “take seriously the epistemologies of people colonised by the British Empire”.
This new scholarship points to the possibility of making history that challenges rather than supports colonial ways of knowing. But this potential will only be realised if we challenge the whiteness of history-making on this continent.
This article has been republished from The Conversationunder a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors: Yves Rees is Lecturer in History at the La Trobe University.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Over eight hundred Indian students applied for this prestigious scholarship which is valued at Rs 30 million. These four winners were selected out of nine finalists who went through a selection procedure that included a group discussion and personal interview.
The scholarship winners were selected by the panel of judges which included Ravneet Pawha, Vice President (Global Alliances) and CEO (South Asia), Deakin University, Mathew Johnston, Minister-Counsellor (Education and Research), Australian High Commission and Abhilash Mishra, CEO, NSE Academy Limited. The announcement was made on the Indian news channel Times Now in an exclusive ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ episode with Deakin University.
Professor Iain Martin, President and Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University
Professor Iain Martin, President and Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University, said in a statement:
“Indian students have been a central part of our unique university community, contributing new perspectives and ideas, helping us build our vibrant and inclusive culture, and bringing high academic standards. I’d like to congratulate the winners of Vice-Chancellor’s Meritorious 100 per cent Scholarships 2022 and I look forward to seeing them enjoying their time with us in Australia and realising their full potential.”
These prestigious scholarships, launched in 2014, are part of Deakin’s initiative ‘Changing Lives’. Under this initiative, the university aims to support Indian students who achieve high academic standards and can give back to India after gaining skills and experience in Australia.
Shruti Arora, one of this year’s scholarship recipients, said:
“This scholarship is an opportunity for me to reach my potential and give back to society by working for a cause that I strongly believe in. With this scholarship, I will be able to gain a diversity of experience by studying a Bachelor of Psychological Sciences at Deakin, and the international exposure will help me gain insight into how to destigmatise mental health in a multicultural and positive way.”
Ravneet Pawha, Vice President (Global Alliances) and CEO (South Asia), Deakin University
Ravneet Pawha, Vice President (Global Alliances) and CEO (South Asia), Deakin University, said:
“The Vice-Chancellor’s Meritorious 100 per cent Scholarship recipients this year are passionate about making the world a better place and are motivated to use advancements in technology to tackle climate change, support children with special needs and more; their vision is what sets them apart.”
The Vice-Chancellor’s Meritorious 100 per cent Scholarship 2022 winners will participate in the Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Excellence Program and commence their studies onshore at Deakin which is ranked among the top 1 per cent of universities in the world (QS Ranking) and has been working with institutions in India since the 1990s.
Missing Boys at Parramatta; Image Source: NSW Police
Police are appealing for public assistance to locate two children missing from the Parramatta area.
Palash Bhat – aged 15, and Parin Bhat – aged 10, were last seen in the Parramatta area at about 9 am on Tuesday (5 July 2022).
Missing Boys at Parramatta; Image Source: NSW Police
After failing to return home, officers attached to Blacktown Police Area Command were notified on Wednesday (6 July 2022) and commenced inquiries to locate them.
Family and police hold concerns for their welfare due to their age.
Missing Boys at Parramatta; Image Source: NSW Police
Palash and Parin are described as being of Indian/Sub-Continental appearance, with brown hair and dark-coloured eyes.
Palash was last seen wearing a black t-shirt with red writing, black trousers and shoes.
Parin was last seen wearing blue jeans, a long sleeve grey jumper, grey and white runners and a blue face mask.
Missing Boys at Parramatta; Image Source: NSW Police
Palash and Parin are known to frequent the Blacktown area.
Anyone with information about Palash and Parin’s whereabouts is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: at 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.
67-year-old former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who collapsed after apparently being shot in the chest while delivering a speech in Nara City on Friday passed away in a local hospital after a “cardiopulmonary arrest.”
The local fire department said that the Japanese ex-PM was rushed to a local hospital and was to be transferred by medevac to Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara City in the prefecture.
Former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has been shot during a speech in Nara city, near Kyoto. The fire department says he is showing no vital signs. Police sources say he was likely hit from behind by shotgun fire.#AbeShinzo#Japanhttps://t.co/nOJC0dkIjG
Mr Abe was campaigning on a street for Liberal Democratic Party candidate at the House of Councillors election, scheduled this Sunday when he collapsed at around 11: 30 am after people on the scene heard what sounded like a gun going off twice, local media reported.
Japanese PM Fumio Kishida told media that attack on Shinzo Abe is “barbaric & malicious”:
“It is a barbaric act that took place during the election which is the base of democracy. It is absolutely unforgivable.”
“It is a barbaric act that took place during the election which is the base of democracy. It is absolutely unforgivable.”
After this unfortunate turn of events, QUAD leaders have paid their respects to to the late Shinzo Abe. Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese has expressed his shock at “the tragic death of former Japanese PM Abe Shinzo.” He tweeted:
Shocked and saddened by the tragic death of former Japanese PM Abe Shinzo. He was a great friend and ally to Australia. Deepest sympathies to his family and the people of Japan. We mourn with you. pic.twitter.com/ms9Va9OPN4
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has a deep bond of friendship with Shinzo Abe said he was “deeply distressed” by the attack on his “dear friend Shinzo Abe”. He tweeted:
“In the passing away of Mr. Abe, Japan and the world have lost a great visionary. And, I have lost a dear friend.”
PM Modi has also penned a heartfelt blog entitled ‘My Friend, Abe San‘ in memory of “an outstanding leader of Japan, a towering global statesman, and a great champion of India-Japan friendship.”
PM Narendra Modi with PM Shinzo Abe (Twitter)
Mr Abe shared a deep bond of friendship with PM Modi which was quite evident in the meeting between both leaders in the month of May.
Sharing a picture from my most recent meeting with my dear friend, Shinzo Abe in Tokyo. Always passionate about strengthening India-Japan ties, he had just taken over as the Chairman of the Japan-India Association. pic.twitter.com/Mw2nR1bIGz
The meeting illustrated the huge goodwill and personal chemistry of PM Modi with the former Japanese PM. As a mark of respect for former PM Shinzo, India’s PM Modi has even announced a one day national mourning on 9 July 2022.
As a mark of our deepest respect for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, a one day national mourning shall be observed on 9 July 2022.
Australia’s former PM and presently the Federal Member for Cook Scott Morrison expressed grief on this “devastating tragedy.”
PM Abe with PM Morrison (Facebook)
Mr Morrison wrote on his Facebook page:
“The assassination of former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe is a truly devastating tragedy. He possessed a grace and strength that redefined the course of his country and our region. I will never forget the humility he displayed when he visited Darwin to lay this wreath at the cenotaph and meet with our WWII veterans. He had the capacity to bridge history and shape the future. He combined a gentle nature with a giant political stature. He will be terribly missed. Vale my dear friend Shinzo. Love to Akie Abe and the people of Japan. We share in your awful grief.”
President of the United States Joe Biden in a tweet said that he was “stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened by the news that my friend Abe Shinzo, former Prime Minister of Japan, was shot and killed.”
I am stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened by the news that my friend Abe Shinzo, former Prime Minister of Japan, was shot and killed. He was a champion of the friendship between our people.
The United States stands with Japan in this moment of grief.
Mr Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister stepped down in 2020 citing health reasons. He was the grandson of former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi and prime minister of Japan twice, from 2006-2007 and again from 2012-2020. He was succeeded by Yoshihide Suga and later by Fumio Kishida.
Mr Abe is well-known for introducing a unique economic policy – “Abenomics” – which is based on introducing structural reforms, deficit spending, and quantitative easing. He was also the leader to originally raise the concept of the “Quad security partnership” between Japan, the US, Australia and India and coin the phrase “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
As far as global leadership is concerned, Abe San was ahead of his times. The Quad, the ASEAN-led forums, the Indo Pacific Oceans Initiative, the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure all benefited from his contributions.
News of political and gun violence is rare in Japan, and at the time of this report, therefore the assailant’s motives are not known yet. However, there are reports the suspect is a former member of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces.
Peter Brook's The Mahabharata
(Screenshot YouTube)
By Paul Rae
I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.
So begins The Empty Space (1968) by the visionary British theatre director Peter Brook, who died on Saturday, aged 97.
While Brook’s gendered pronouns show that not all aspects of The Empty Space have aged equally well, it remains one of the most influential books on modern drama. Its core idea, encapsulated in Brook’s opening sentence, perfectly captures his enduring but complex legacy.
Peter Brook (Wikipedia)
Born in London in 1925, Brook came of age as a precocious young director for the Royal Shakespeare Company during a period when the work of now-canonical European innovators of 20th century theatre was beginning to make its presence felt in Great Britain.
The Russian director Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938) advocated psychological realism in acting. The Marxist aesthetics of Germany’s Bertolt Brecht (1998-1956) sought to cultivate in audiences a critical perspective on exploitative social forces. French writer Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) imagined a primal “theatre of cruelty” directly impacting the body.
This wholesale questioning of what theatre should be inspired Brook towards methodological and aesthetic innovation, and modelled for him a way of writing about theatre for a popular readership in striking, vivid prose, that he would pursue throughout his career.
The essentials of being human
For Brook, all that is needed for theatre is a location, an actor and an audience member. Everything else is supplementary.
He set about demonstrating this with a series of intensely focused and increasingly pared-back productions.
These included an austere production of King Lear (1962) featuring Paul Scofield and adapted for film in 1971. Then there was the controlled madness of his Marat/Sade (1964), and an iconic white box production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1970).
This investigative impetus would soon take Brook beyond the British theatre establishment. He established the International Centre for Theatre Research in Paris in 1970, and began to travel widely.
His goal, as he put it, was to work “outside of contexts”, asking:
In what conditions is it possible for what happens in a theatre experience to originate from a group of actors and be received and shared by spectators without the help and hindrance of […] shared cultural signs and tokens?
In 1979, Brook took his international troupe (including a young Helen Mirren) on an 8,500 km, three and a half month trip through Saharan Africa, presenting The Conference of the Birds, a play based on a 12th Century Persian poem, to audiences with whom they expected to have nothing in common.
The Mahabharata and critical backlash
This phase of what came to be called intercultural theatre culminated in a famous adaptation of the Sanskrit epic The Mahabharata.
Premiering at the Avignon festival in 1985 (it was performed in Adelaide in 1988 and filmed in 1989) with a cast drawn from many cultures and theatrical traditions, critics praised the beauty and limpid theatricality of the production.
However, it also triggered a critical backlash which, in retrospect, had been a long time coming.
As Australians well know, there are no “empty spaces” that are simply there for the taking. There are no cultural forms that exist “outside of contexts”.
Brook was not naive about this, but he struggled to square local particularity with his universalist instincts.
He acknowledged The Mahabharata “would never have existed without India”, yet at the same time, stated
we had to avoid allowing the suggestion of India to be so strong as to inhibit human identification to too great an extent.
For a growing number of critics, this was not only intellectually unsustainable, but compounded historical wrongs.
In 1990, the Indian theatre scholar Rustom Bharucha published Theatre and the World, a broadside against western appropriations of Asian theatrical forms that went back to Stanislavski, Brecht and Artaud, and were exemplified in Brook’s work.
Bharucha accused Brook of trivialising and decontextualising Indian culture, and exploiting Indian performers.
The Mahabharata would mark a significant shift in how intercultural collaborations would be approached in future: greater attention being paid to who has the right to represent what, and how the material and intellectual resources in any given production are distributed.
A director of influence
Through the 1990s and into the new millennium, Brook remained consistently active.
He continued to create classic and intercultural performances at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris.
He worked with international artists on projects that would tour widely. Le Costume (The Suit), an adaptation of a 1963 story by Can Themba made seemingly limitless use of the anthropomorphic properties of an empty suit to tell a touching parable of love and loss in apartheid-era South Africa.
Brook’s clarifying focus on what really matters in theatre – paring everything back from staging to acting style and infusing what remains with complexity, nuance and intelligence – can be discerned across the spectrum of contemporary theatrical activity.
We see it, for example, in the the physical inventiveness of Complicité, the raw character work of Ivo van Hove and the compositional sensibilities of Katie Mitchell.
Then there are the intercultural experiments of Ariane Mnouchkine and Ong Keng Sen. We can even trace it to the combination of technological refinement and narrative momentum in Kip Williams’s current Australian hit The Picture of Dorian Grey.
Brook raised the bar on what audiences should expect of theatre, but also what creators could demand of their audiences.
He advocated a theatre in which a rigorous creative process underpinned an absolute commitment by actors to the present moment of performance. In response, audiences would feel compelled to bring their own investments, attention and desires.
Brook’s work was not without controversy, but it rarely strayed far from the centre of debates over the human stakes in the creation of theatre.
Brook reminded us how high those stakes can be – as long as we all work towards meeting the criteria for, as he put it in The Empty Space, “an act of theatre to be engaged”.
This article has been republished from The Conversationunder a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors: Paul Rae is Associate Professor, English and Theatre Studies at The University of Melbourne.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
In an exclusive interview with The Australia Today, Mr Saran outlined the importance of the Australia-India bilateral relationship and how crucial this relationship is going to be from a strategic and economic point of view.
Q1) How important is the India-Australia relationship going to be globally and for the Indo-Pacific region from a security point of view?
Mr Saran: India views Australia as one of its most important partners in the world. The relationship has transformed in less than a decade. Today, the two countries are exploring opportunities to work shoulder-to-shoulder on new opportunities to tackle challenges that confront Asia and the world. The partnership has been catalysed by shared concerns about China and a shared responsibility to ensure a peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific by partnering closely with like-minded countries in the region.
Image source: Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – Twitter.
Q2) How do you see bilateral trade between the two countries going forward, is it likely to substantially increase after the trade agreement?
Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles and Australia’s Dan Tehan MP, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment; Image Source: @PIB
Q3) How important is it for Australia to diversify its international trade and reduce its exposure to China?
Mr Saran: It is extremely important. As one of the developed world’s most China-dependent economies, Australia will always be vulnerable in case of deterioration in bilateral ties. By pushing for answers on the origin of the pandemic, Australia has already angered Beijing. After being at the receiving end of Beijing’s trade weaponisation, it is extremely significant for Australia to reduce its perverse dependence on China by diversifying its export markets. Australia and others also need to invest more in trade diversification, and supply chain resilience and are conscious of the geopolitical risks.
Q4) How important is it for Australia to increase its economic engagement with India specifically given the implications not just for geoeconomics but also geopolitics?
Mr Saran: The broader trade and technology agenda is closely linked to and implicated by politics. This geopolitical convergence in the Indo-Pacific is also driving the current upward trajectory in the economic relations between India and Australia. Australia realises that even as it seeks to respond to the increase in Chinese influence within Pacific Island countries, India is staving off the overbearing presence of the dragon in South Asia. Instead of relying solely on the United States, it is time for India and Australia to increase their economic engagement and build their own capabilities to push back against Chinese expansiveness. They have obvious overlapping interests in the region and a clear motivation to make this happen.
Australia’s Resources Minister Madeleine King and Indian Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi; Image Source: Supplied
Q5) How important is Australia going to be for India from a trade and security point of view?
Mr Saran: As the first bilateral trade agreement of India with a developed country in the last decade, this FTA with Australia is extremely important. as India is not part of any significant regional or free-trade bloc. Apart from eliminating or lowering tariffs on both sides, this FTA positively influences other ongoing bilateral trade negotiations that India has with Canada, the EU and the UK.
As mentioned earlier, due to an overlap in the Indo-Pacific regional visions of the two countries and the escalating competition between US-China, India sees it important for Australia to bolster its security capacities through enhanced defence acquisitions and spending, as well as by strengthening existing defence cooperation. India and Australia, by investing in their own security and economy, are offering the other greater ability to manage and negotiate the changing political and economic landscape in Asia.
Carnegie Indian ocean initiative interactive map
Q6) Are there any specific areas where you see the potential for increased engagement that require more attention?
Mr Saran: There are four areas where there’s potential for increased engagement. First is political – both India’s and Australia’s neighbouring island countries are facing excessive inducements by the CCP to follow the Chinese way of life. We need to realise that dialogue with these island countries is not enough, we need to put money where our mouth is. India and Australia can create an islands initiative, wherein we invest in their technology futures and climate resilience, and offer them better, safer money than what is on offer from the Chinese.
Australia India Agreement; Image Source: @CANVA
The second is climate – as India transitions to a green economy, Australia can vigorously partner with us. As a country with sophisticated financial institutions, Australia can offer significant inputs in the technology, R&D and innovation space. Australia’s financial institutions can also service the significant Indian appetite for green finance and infrastructure projects.
Solar Panels in Atacama Desert, Wikkipidia
Third is technology – instead of becoming the B-teams of Silicon Valley, the India-Australia technology partnership could create tech for development, fit for our neighbourhood. This would not only help the ASEAN and island countries, but also the emerging world. India and Australia have the potential to be the A-team of the tech for a development paradigm that serves the next 6 billion that silicon valley does not innovate for.
Indian IT Firms; Image Source: @CANAVA
And finally, diaspora – we need to scale up Australia’s educational and knowledge partnership with India. We need to take Australian institutions to India and offshore the education industry, wherein the former is able to increase its presence and build to-scale education and skilling institutions in India.
Indian Australians at a citizenship ceremony
7) Do you see Quad as having substance or is it more a symbolic grouping at this stage?
Mr Saran: Quad, as of today, is a limited-purpose partnership that was born out of common concern about Chinese activities. At this stage, the Quad is beginning to become more ambitious and is seeking to shape the development and technology pathways the region treads on.
Quad Leaders Summit in Tokyo (Image Source: Twitter)
A quad must consider building more substance through institutionalisation and by delivering on specific projects in the Indo-Pacific region.
India has raised the issue of Australian Defence personnel attending an event which had Khalistani flags, banners and hoardings, with Australia.
The Australia Today, in an exclusive report, had earlier reported that ADF personnel were present alongside Khalistani separatists at the recently held Sikh Games in Griffith, NSW.
Members of the Indian Australian community were left disturbed and upset to see the Australian Defence Force Marquee at the event where Khalistani banners and posters were displayed.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said regarding reports of Australian Defence personnel attending an event alongside Khalistani separatists,
“We specifically got to know about an incident in Australia. We have raised this issue with the Government of Australia…we have taken this up with the Australian Government…there was something related to a few of their soldiers, talks are going on on the issue.”
The Australia Today had reached out to the ADF regarding this issue that had left members of the Indian-Australian community distressed and traumatised.
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
A Defence spokesperson said with regards to this matter:
“A small group of Australian Defence Force members attended the Sikh Games in Griffith, NSW, over the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend. Attendance was not in any official capacity and there was no formal invitation to Defence to participate.”
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
“The Australian Defence Force is an apolitical organisation and Defence members are expected to remain impartial. The Defence members had no prior awareness of other organisations attending this important community event which promotes traditional Indian culture and sport.”
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
The Defence spokesperson further added,
“The ADF personnel who attended the Sikh Games in Griffith did so with good intentions. The ADF personnel are proud of both their service and their culture and saw an opportunity to engage positively with the Sikh community.”
“They had no prior knowledge of other groups attending the event, including political or separatist movements. The attendance of ADF personnel at this event in no way endorses any other group or organisation who may have also been in attendance.”
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
A Defence spokesperson also said,
“Defence regrets any distress that accidental associations might have caused the Indian diaspora in Australia.”
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
The Australia Today also reached out to the organisers of the Sikh games in Griffith but has not yet received a response.
The Australia Today would like to categorically state that we in no manner suggest that the ADF personnel who attended the Sikh Games in Griffith support or endorse matters associated with the ‘Khalistan’ separatist movement.
Greed, desire, wishful thinking and naivety are lucrative markets for scam artists – and their age-old hustles are increasingly being supplemented by digital chicanery.
In 2021 Australians lost an estimated $2 billion to fraudsters, more than double that of 2020, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The consumer watchdog’s latest scam report details more than 20 different scam types, primarily based on reports made to its Scamwatch agency.
Some scams are perennials. Topping Scamwatch’s list are investment scams, dating and romance scams, remote access scams (convincing you to allow access to your computer or phone), and threats or blackmail.
This article is going to focus on the five scam types that have grown most in value from 2020.
These aren’t necessarily the scams anyone (including you) is most likely to fall for. But they provide a useful snapshot of how scam techniques that rely on human nature are increasingly being executed via technology.
1. Ransomware and malware
This type of scam has been on the wane due to the use of anti-malware protection. But in 2021 it roared back with a 1,482% rise in reported losses over 2020.
This was mostly due to 2020 numbers being much lower than 2019, but the reported costs per incident (about $21,704) are still worrying given how easily such scams can be spread.
They typically involve installing malicious software on your computer or phone to make files inaccessible or lock the device. This is done by sending a bogus email, text message or voicemail with an enticing message directing you to a link that automatically installs the malicious software when you open it. The scammer then demands a payment to “unlock” the system.
Contributing to ransomware’s resurgence was the Flubot scam, in which tens of thousands of Australians with Android phones received scam text messages about missed calls or deliveries. The malware could harvest banking details as well as use contact lists to spread to other devices.
2. Pyramid schemes
The pyramid scheme promises you riches by recruiting others to the scheme. While such recruitment is also a feature of multi-level marketing (also known as referral selling schemes), in an illegal pyramid scheme financial returns are entirely or substantially reliant on convincing other people to join.
In 2021 reported losses from pyramid schemes were 368% higher than in 2020. This was due, as with malware, to losses in 2020 being abnormally low. But even though the total number of reported cases was quite low (fewer than 500) the percentage of of those reports involving people losing money was one of the highest (44%), with an average loss of $6,239.
This suggests pyramid scams remain quite alluring to some people.
3. Identity theft
Identity theft – using your personal information to steal money from you or someone else – is one of the most challenging scams to deal with. It may involve stealing money from your own account or using your identity for credit purchases, which you then have to untangle.
This is a true growth area. In 2021 there 22,354 identity theft reports, up from 20,939 in 2020. While only 951 of these cases (about 4%) reported losses, average losses more than doubled to about $10,683. The total losses ($10,159,930) were 230% higher than in 2020.
4. Investment scams
Investment scams tempt victims with promises of large profits from share deals and crypto-currency opportunities. In 2021, 4,068 Australians reported losing more than $177 million on such scams – an average loss of about $45,350.
While investment scams come in many varieties, the Scamwatch report itemises three main types. Cryptocurrency scams accounted for $99 million of reported losses. The selling of fake high-yield corporate or government bonds accounted for $16 million. Ponzi schemes, which create the charade of investment success by paying dividends from the money of new victims, accounted for $8 million.
Ponzi schemes are named after Charles Ponzi, who in the 1920s promised to double people’s money in 45 days. One such scheme doing the rounds in 2021 was the Hope Business app, which promised windfall returns simply by paying money into an account.
Interestingly the consumer watchdog’s report says men were almost twice as likely to be victims of investment scams and reported double the losses of female victims.
5. Phishing
Phishing, closely linked to identity theft, was the most reported scam in 2021 – with 71,308 cases, compared to 44,079 in 2020 and 25,168 in 2019.
These scams are usually seeking to obtain our credentials (passwords) to various services including email, online banking and government services such as MyGov.
That just 861 cases reported a direct financial loss suggests this is one of the most recognised scams. We’ve all had emails or SMS messages asking us to confirm our details or click a link to listen to a voicemail or receive a parcel.
Even so, a total of $4.3 million was reported lost from phishing scams in 2021 – 156% more than in 2020. The average loss was slightly more than $5,000.
How to avoid being scammed
If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you have any inkling you may be being scammed, the best advice is to stop and think.
If you are being asked to move money, make an unexpected payment or send personal information to someone, stop.
If you are being asked to provide information or take some action, contact the organisation involved using a number you already have (bank statement, credit card etc) or find the number yourself.
This article has been republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Author: Paul Haskell-Dowland is Professor of Cyber Security Practice at Edith Cowan University.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Amid the rising numbers of COVID cases, an additional 7.4 million people will now be eligible to receive a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose from next week after the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) updated its recommendations.
The Australian Government has accepted the recommendations of the ATAGI vaccine experts and will open the fourth dose to those newly eligible from Monday, 11 July.
Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said, “We are in the early stages of a third Omicron wave and our government is absolutely committed to making sure as many people as possible are protected with the vaccine.”
This will help provide additional protection from severe disease against the emerging surge of Omicron subvariant infections and reduce the burden on Australian hospitals and the health care system in the coming months.
ATAGI specifically recommended that people aged 50 to 64 years should have their fourth dose, while people aged 30 to 49 years may choose to have a fourth shot.
ATAGI reiterated that people who had already been eligible for the fourth dose, including those aged 65 years and over, remain at higher risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19.
As of 7 July 2022, 60 per cent of people aged 65 years and over have had their fourth dose. People who haven’t already received it are strongly encouraged to have it as soon as possible.
“The vaccine experts on the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation have recommended it – and the Government has accepted this advice,”
said Minister Butler.
ATAGI also recommended the interval between vaccine doses, or prior infection (whichever comes later), be reduced from four months to three months to provide earlier additional protection.
ATAGI did not support making the fourth dose available to healthy adults under the age of 30 years as it was not clear whether the benefits outweighed the risks in this population group.
Almost 14 million people in Australia aged 16 and over have received three or more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
People aged 50 years and over who haven’t yet had a fourth vaccine are encouraged to make an appointment as soon as possible to ensure they are up to date with their vaccination and have the greatest protection possible against COVID-19.
“MY MESSAGE TO EVERYONE LIVING IN AUSTRALIA AGED 50 AND OVER IS TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE GREATEST PROTECTION AGAINST COVID-19 BY HAVING A FOURTH DOSE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. IF YOU ARE AGED 30 TO 49 AND YOU WANT THAT EXTRA PROTECTION, YOU CAN CHOOSE TO GET THE FOURTH DOSE.,”
Minister Butler further added.
Victoria COVID 19 Vaccination; Picture Source: Twitter @VicDHS
ATAGI continues to recommend that people in eligible at-risk population groups, including those who are severely immunocompromised (for these people, it will be the fifth dose) or who have underlying medical conditions, receive their fourth dose.
ATAGI has noted the number of people in Australia ill from respiratory virus infections, including from COVID-19, has increased over the past few months, placing an increased strain on the Australian health care system, particularly hospitals.
A surge in cases of COVID-19 BA.4 and BA.5 subvariant is a contributing factor and is expected to worsen in the coming months.
Increasing the uptake of fourth doses in the most at-risk population groups during this time is anticipated to play a limited, but important, role in reducing the risk to individuals of severe outcomes while taking pressure off Australia’s health care system.
ATAGI has expressed concern that the take-up of the first booster dose, and the fourth dose among those who had already been eligible, has not been high enough and emphasises the importance of vaccination in preventing severe disease and death during this time, particularly in older adults and people aged 16 years and older with a medical condition or disability.
Forbes List; Indra Nooyi, Reshma Shetty, Jayshree V Ullal, Neha Narkhede, and Neerja Sethi
Jayshree V Ullal, the president and CEO of Arista Networks, along with Neerja Sethi, co-founder of Syntel; Neha Narkhede, co-founder and former CTO of Confluent; former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, and Reshma Shetty, co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks have found a place amongst America’s richest self-made women.
Forbes has named Jayshree V Ullal (number 15) as one of America’s richest self-made women with her current net worth of around $1.9 billion. According to the magazine, Ullal who has been heading Arista Networks since 2018 owns about 5% of Arista’s stock – “some of which is earmarked for her two children, niece and nephew.” She is also the recipient of prestigious awards such as E&Y’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2015, Barron’s “World’s Best CEOs” in 2018 and one of Fortune’s “Top 20 Business persons” in 2019.
Neerja Sethi is at number 24 with a total net worth of $1b. Sethi holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics, a master’s degree in computer science and an MBA in operations research. She co-founded the IT consulting and outsourcing firm Syntel with her husband Bharat Desai in 1980 in their apartment in Troy, Michigan. The couple started the business with an initial investment of just $2,000.
Neha Narkhede, co-founder and former CTO of Confluent, is at number 57 with a total net worth of $490m. Narkhede, who grew up in Pune, India, studied Computer Science at Georgia Tech. While working as a software engineer at Linkedin, she also helped develop the open-source messaging system Apache Kafka to handle the networking site’s huge influx of data. She also advises numerous technology startups.
Indra Nooyi, the former PepsiCo CEO, is at number 85 with a total net worth of $320m. Her fortune stems from the stock she was granted while working at PepsiCo. Nooyi grew up in India and has an MBA from Yale before becoming one of corporate America’s few female CEOs in 2006.
Reshma Shetty is at number 97 with a total net worth of $220m. co-founded Gingko Bioworks, a synthetic biotechnology company, in 2009 with four others, including her husband Barry Canton. Ginkgo, named after a dinosaur-era tree, uses data analytics and robotics to speed up the process of discovering and making new organisms. Shetty has a PhD in biological engineering from MIT.
According to the magazine, the decline in the American stock market has “pushed down the combined net worth of the nation’s richest self-made women to $111 billion, a 6% drop from last year.”
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has committed to a “reset” of relations between government and universities, and promised more effort to boost the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, in a major speech on higher education.
He is also speeding up visa processing to help rebuild Australia’s education export industry, and wants Labor’s September jobs summit to discuss how to retain foreign students after they complete their degrees, to enlarge Australia’s skilled workforce.
In his address, titled Reset, Rebuild and Reform, to a Universities Australia dinner in Canberra on Wednesday night, Clare announced an independent inquiry into the role and function of the Australian Research Council, which administers the national research grants program.
The higher education sector had a fraught relationship with the former government, which declined to include universities in the JobKeeper scheme in the pandemic.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare (Twitter)
Clare said that in coming months he would appoint a group of eminent Australians to lead Labor’s planned “Australian Universities Accord”.
The accord would draw on university staff, unions, business, students, parents and all political parties, and look at “everything from funding and access to affordability, transparency, regulation, [and] employment conditions”.
It would also examine how universities, TAFEs and other providers worked together.
Highlighting the importance of more action on equity, Clare said in 2008 when the Bradley review of higher education was published, 29% of 25-34-year-olds had a bachelor degree. The review set a target of 40% by 2020.
That target was met – the figure was now more than 43%. But Bradley’s other target – that 20% of enrolments by 2020 should be students from low socio-economic backgrounds – had not been met.
“At the time it was about 15%. And it has barely moved,” Clare said.
“Where you live also matters,” he said. In capitals more than 48% of 25-34-year-olds had a degree, but in regional Australia it was just over 20%, and in more remote areas about 16%.
“And it’s even worse than that for our Indigenous brothers and sisters. That figure is less than 10%.”
“Where you live, how much your parents earn, whether you are Indigenous or not, is still a major factor in whether your are a student or a graduate of an Australian university.”
Clare said just over 70% of students who walked into a university walked out with a qualification. But the figure was lower for those from a poor family, lower again for those from regional or remote areas, and lower again for Indigenous people.
He announced $20.5 million over four years to expand the work of the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education based at Curtin University.
Clare said rebuilding the international education sector “starts with sending a clear message to students around the world that we want you to study with us”.
A visit next month by the Indian education minister would be an important opportunity for rebuilding, and “we need to do that with other countries in the region as well”.
The backlog in processing student visas was a problem and he had asked the secretary of his department to work directly with the secretary of Home Affairs on this.
“I also think there is more we can do to get more of the students we teach and train to stay after their studies end and help us fill some of the chronic skills gaps in our economy.
“Only 16% of our international students do that at the moment. In some of the countries we compete with for talent, it’s a lot higher than that. This is something I’d like to see discussed at the jobs summit in September.”
Clare said delays and political interference in the operation of competitive grants needed to end.
“It damages our international reputation. It also makes it harder for you to recruit and retain staff”, he told his university audience.
“I get it. You work with industry. We want you to work with industry. Industry want certainty. Time means money. They want to get on with it. So do you.”
Following a Senate committee recommendation from March, he would set up an independent review of the ARC’s role and function, with “a particular focus on the governance framework and reporting mechanisms”.
This article has been republished from The Conversationunder a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Author: Michelle Grattan is Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Flying Officer Ananya Sharma with her father Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma (Twitter ANI)
Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and his daughter Flying Officer Ananya Sharma created history on 30th May when they became the first father-daughter pair in the Indian Air Force to fly in the same formation of the Hawk-132.
This was the first time ever that a father-daughter duo flew fighter jets together in the same fighter formation for a mission in the IAF.
Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma with his daughter Flying Officer Ananya Sharma. The two fighter pilots became the first father-daughter pair in the IAF to fly in formation of the Hawk AJT in Bidar. pic.twitter.com/5OymV7fuvf
The flying mission took place at the IAF station in Bidar, India. Flying Officer Ananya Sharma is currently undertaking training at the same station before she graduates onto a superior aircraft.
In a written statement Indian Air Force said, “The father-daughter duo created history on 30 May 2022, when they flew in the same formation of Hawk-132 aircraft at Air Force Station Bidar, where Flying Officer Ananya Sharma is undergoing her training before she graduates onto faster and more superior fighter aircraft of the IAF.”
Father-daughter duo, Flying Officer Ananya & Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma,created history on May 30 when they flew in same formation of Hawk-132 aircraft at IAF Station Bidar,where Flying Officer Ananya is undergoing her training before she graduates onto superior fighter aircraft pic.twitter.com/dUW4zCmc9V
The father-daughter duo received a lot of appreciation from netizens for this incredible feat including from former diplomat and India’s Union Minister Hardeep Singh Suri.
Ananya is currently undergoing transitional fighter training at Bidar on the Hawks. The training module involves intensive combat manoeuvres and armament firing. The 24-year-old will be posted to a full-fledged fighter squadron in January next year.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak tendered their resignation from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's cabinet; Image Source: The Australia Today
UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned on Tuesday, landing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government in a crisis.
In his resignation letter, Sunak said he was “sad to be leaving the government”, but has come to the conclusion that he “cannot continue like this”.
“The public rightly expects the government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning,”
Rishi Sunak said.
The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously.
I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.
Javid said he had lost confidence in Boris Johnson’s ability to govern following multiple scandals, saying he could “no longer continue in good conscience”.
The minister said that many lawmakers and the public had lost confidence in Johnson’s ability to govern in the national interest.
In his resignation letter, which he posted to Twitter, Javid told Johnson that “the values you represent reflect on your colleagues,” and in light of recent scandals, the public had concluded that their party was neither “competent” nor “acting in the national interest.”
I have spoken to the Prime Minister to tender my resignation as Secretary of State for Health & Social Care.
It has been an enormous privilege to serve in this role, but I regret that I can no longer continue in good conscience. pic.twitter.com/d5RBFGPqXp
The exit of the top minister comes as Johnson was apologising for keeping the former Conservative party whip Chris Pincher in his post after sexual misconduct allegations were made against him. The British PM said he regrets giving Pincher a government role as Deputy Chief Whip following the revelation of a misconduct complaint against him.
“In hindsight, it was the wrong thing to do and I apologise to everyone who has been badly affected by it. I just want to make absolutely clear that there’s no place in this government for anybody who is predatory or abuses their position of power,” he said.
UK PM names new Health Secretary, Finance Minister
Prime Minister Boris Johnson named new UK Health Secretary and Finance Minister shortly after Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak tendered their resignation, media reports said.
UK Cabinet chief of staff Steve Barclay has been appointed as the new health secretary. Meanwhile, UK education secretary Nadhim Zahawi was named as the new finance minister.
BA.4 and BA.5 are more infectious than previous COVID variants and subvariants, and are better able to evade immunity from vaccines and previous infections. So we’re likely to see a rise in case numbers.
So what are BA.4 and BA.5? And what can we expect in this next phase of the pandemic?
How did it start? BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3
Omicron started off as three subvariants (that is, a group of viruses from the same parent virus), all appearing in late November 2021 in South Africa: BA.1, BA.2, and BA.3.
The three are genetically different enough that they could have had their own Greek names. But for some reason, this did not happen, and the World Health Organization designated them as subvariants of Omicron.
BA.1 rapidly took over from Delta in Australia in early January this year, forming a massive wave of cases, peaking at more than 100,000 a day.
However, BA.2 is even more transmissible than BA.1, and Australia saw a second wave of cases, this time caused by BA.2. This wave peaked in early April at more than 60,000 cases a day.
When were BA.4 and BA.5 detected?
BA.4 was first detected in January 2022 in South Africa. BA.5 was also detected in South Africa, in February 2022.
Both appear to be offshoots of BA.2, sharing many identical mutations. They also have many additional mutations likely to impact transmission.
They are talked about together because mutations in their spike protein (the bit that latches on to human cells) are identical. (For brevity, I refer to them as BA.4/5.)
However, they do differ in some of the mutations on the body of the virus.
How transmissible are BA.4/5?
We measure how contagious a disease is by the basic reproduction number (R0). This is the average number of people an initial case infects in a population with no immunity (from vaccines or previous infection).
New mutations give the virus an advantage if they can increase transmissibility:
BA.2, which is the dominant subvariant in Australia at the moment, is 1.4 times more transmissible than BA.1, and so has an R0 of about 13.3
a pre-print publication from South Africa suggests BA.4/5 has a growth advantage over BA.2 similar to the growth advantage of BA.2 over BA.1. That would give it an R0 of 18.6.
This is similar to measles, which was until now was our most infectious viral disease.
How likely is reinfection?
BA.4/BA.5 appear to be masters at evading immunity. This increases the chance of reinfection.
Reinfection is defined as a new infection at least 12 weeks after the first. This gap is in place because many infected people still shed virus particles many weeks after recovery.
However, some unfortunate people get a new infection within the 12 weeks, and therefore are not counted.
Likely, there are now tens of thousands of Australians into their second or third infections, and this number will only get bigger with BA.4/5.
Got COVID again? Your symptoms may be milder, but this won't always be the case https://t.co/OCzwkQ5H0M via @ConversationEDU Another good article from The Conversation
— Professor Adrian Esterman (@profesterman) May 16, 2022
How high are case numbers likely to rise?
Around Australia, we are starting to see a third wave of cases because of BA.4/5.
The effective reproduction number, or Reff tells us, on average, how many people an infected person will pass it on to, given the immunity in the population. All Australian states and territories now have a Reff greater than 1, meaning that even with the current levels of immunity, we are seeing an exponential growth in case numbers. This will inevitably lead to an increase in hospitalisation and deaths.
The second Omicron wave due to BA.2 was not as high as the first one caused by BA.1, probably because there were so many people infected with BA.1, that the ensuing immunity dampened the second wave down.
This third wave may not be as high as the second for the same reason.
How severe is the disease from BA.4/5?
A recent pre-print publication (a publication that has so far not been peer-reviewed) from a Japanese research group found that in lab-based, cell-culture experiments, BA.4/5 was able to replicate more efficiently in the lungs than BA.2. In hamster experiments, it developed into more serious illness.
However, data from South Africa and the United Kingdom found that their BA.4/5 wave didn’t see a major increase in severe disease and death.
Brief trip back into Covid data today:
Promising news from South Africa, where the BA.4 / BA.5 variant wave has passed quietly, with high levels of immunity meaning this wave has had little impact on rates of severe illness or death pic.twitter.com/C5W6iZzDLK
This is possibly because of the high rates of immunity due to previous infections. Our high rates of vaccine-induced immunity might have a similar protective effect here.
Will BA.4/5 change long COVID?
At this stage, we do not know whether any of the Omicron subvariants differ in their ability to cause long COVID.
However, we do know that full vaccination (three doses for most people) does provide some protection against long COVID.
How protective are our vaccines against BA.4/5?
Each new subvariant of Omicron has been better able to evade immunity from vaccination than its predecessor.
Although current vaccines based on the Wuhan strain will still provide some protection against serious illness and death against BA.4/5, they are unlikely to provide much, if any, protection against infection or symptomatic disease.
What about new vaccines?
The good news is second-generation vaccines are in clinical trials. Moderna is trialling a vaccine containing mRNA against the original Wuhan strain and Omicron BA.1.
Early results are very promising, and likely to give much better protection against BA.4/5.
But this third Omicron wave – along with a very severe flu season – will likely see our hospitals struggling even more over the next few weeks.
If things get bad enough, state and territory governments might be forced to reintroduce face mask mandates in many settings – in my opinion, not such a bad thing.
This article has been republished from The Conversationunder a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Author: Adrian Esterman is Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of South Australia.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
RBA to raise cash rate within week; Image Source: @CANVA
Australians will have to dig a little deeper in their pockets after the Reserve Bank hiked the cash rate to 1.35 per cent.
RateCity estimates the 50 basis point rise – the third hike in three months – will add $137 a month to a $500,000 mortgage, or $499 per month on a $750,000 loan.
“Today’s increase in interest rates is a further step in the withdrawal of the extraordinary monetary support that was put in place to help insure the Australian economy against the worst possible effects of the pandemic,”
Reserve Bank governor Phil Lowe said in a statement following Tuesday’s board meeting.
Reserve Bank Of Australia; Picture Source: @CANVA
“The resilience of the economy and the higher inflation means that this extraordinary support is no longer needed.”
He said the size and timing of future interest rate rises would be guided by “the incoming data and the board’s assessment of the outlook for inflation and the labour market”.
“The board is committed to doing what is necessary to ensure that inflation in Australia returns to target over time,”
Mr Lowe added.
Mortgage blues; Image Source: @CANVA
The board is seeking to use rate rises to push inflation down from its 21-year high of 5.1 per cent back into its two to three per cent target band. But global and domestic factors are pushing inflation towards a predicted peak of seven per cent by the end of the year.
“Inflation is forecast to peak later this year and then decline back towards the two to three per cent range next year,” Dr Lowe said.
“As global supply-side problems continue to ease and commodity prices stabilise, even if at a high level, inflation is expected to moderate.”
He said the Australian economy remained resilient and the labour market was tighter than it had been for some time.
Mortgage blues; Image Source: @CANVA
However, the board would be keeping an eye on household spending trends and the global outlook which was “clouded by the war in Ukraine and its effect on the prices for energy and agricultural commodities”, as well as the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers acknowledged household budgets were already stretched by the price of petrol, groceries, electricity and other essentials and would now be eaten up by mortgage repayments.
“Today’s decision by the independent Reserve Bank to increase interest rates by half a percentage point is very challenging news for hardworking Australians already doing it tough,”
Dr Chalmers said.
He said it was expected inflation would get worse before it got better.
“That’s why we’re working hard to deliver on our commitments to boost the capacity of the economy and reduce the cost of living, and why we fought for an increase to this year’s minimum wage for 2.8 million Australians,” he said.
Another hike is expected in August following the release of second-quarter inflation data.
But some economists say the RBA may need to slow or even pause rate rises heading into 2023.
New data released on Tuesday showed while consumers were feeling anxious, they were still keen to spend.
Mortgage blues; Image Source: @CANVA
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported retail trade rose 0.9 per cent in May to be up 10.4 per cent in the year. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said new vehicle sales totalled 99,974 units in June, down 9.7 per cent from a year ago.
ANZ and Roy Morgan consumer confidence fell 1.2 per cent in the past week.
The housing market is already responding and will be closely watched as banks set their new higher loan rates.
The CoreLogic Home Value Index for June showed house prices in Sydney and Melbourne dropped by 2.8 and 1.8 per cent respectively over the quarter, with Adelaide the only city showing a solid upward trend.
Eleanor Creagh, PropTrack senior economist, said despite the market implicitly pricing a cash rate of three per cent by December, it was likely the cash rate will end the year “closer to two per cent than three per cent”.
Capital Economics’ Marcel Thieliant said he had pencilled in another 50 basis point hike in August.
“And we now expect inflation to peak at eight per cent and expect the cash rate to rise to 3.5 per cent.”
Surf Life Saving NSW assisting with evacuation (Image Source: Penrith NSW State Emergency Services Facebook)
The Federal Government has declared the current NSW floods a natural disaster. This will enable access to emergency funding for those imapcted by the flooding. Rains continue to lash Sydney and NSW and it is estimated that around 50,000 people have been affected by evacuation orders and warnings. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who returned to Australia today from his overseas trip, which included a visit to Ukraine, had briefings with Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt upon his return.
Back in Australia – had briefings with Emergency Management Minister @MurrayWatt and Director-General of Emergency Management Australia Joe Buffone before talking to the media about the floods in NSW. pic.twitter.com/5I1kiBELGv
Disaster assistance is now available in 23 local government areas (LGAs) following severe storms and flooding from 27 June 2022, which continue to impact large areas of Sydney and the New South Wales coast.
The LGAs are Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Canterbury Bankstown, Campbelltown, Central Coast, Cessnock, Fairfield, Georges River, Hawkesbury, Hornsby, Kiama, Lithgow, Liverpool, Northern Beaches, Penrith, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Sutherland, The Hills, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly and Wollongong.
Federal Member for Hume and Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor MP visited south-west Sydney.
Devastating scenes across #Camden and south-west Sydney.
This is the fourth time this year that buildings, homes and businesses in the area have been submerged by rising flood water. pic.twitter.com/yC73lrzRmy
Assistance is being provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
Minister for Emergency Management, Murray Watt, said the flooding has led to a large number of evacuations throughout Metropolitan Sydney, the Hawkesbury and the Central Coast, with major flood operations still ongoing. Minister Watt said:
“We have seen some of these impacted communities being hit by floods for a third and fourth time in 18 months, which is extremely distressing to the residents of these communities.”
Minister Watt added:
“The Australian and New South Wales governments have worked very cooperatively through this latest flood emergency, to ensure defence and other resources were deployed early and fast. Similarly, we’re now working hard together to make sure that impacted communities get the financial and other assistance they need as soon as possible.”
New South Wales Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and Minister for Flood Recovery, Stephanie Cooke said yesterday (4th July) that significant recovery support would be required to help support communities once the major weather event passes. Ms Cooke said.
“Today’s announcement will ensure immediate assistance is available to impacted communities, including assistance for people who have lost or had damage to their homes. While we are still very much in the emergency response phase of this developing weather event, as waters recede we will work with communities to assess longer term recovery needs and ensure appropriate long-term support is provided.”
Assistance available under the DRFA may include:
Help for eligible people whose homes or belongings have been damaged (eligibility criteria apply);
Support for affected local councils to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged road and essential public assets;
Concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers and non-profit organisations; and
Freight subsidies for primary producers.
The Federal Emergency Management Minister, Murray Watt, told the ABC that these payments would be uncapped, demand driven and be avliable for anyone who qualifies for them.
The NSW State Emergency Services (SES) has set up evacuation centres in several areas including Liverpool and Castle Hill.
The SES has carried out over 250 flood rescues so far including 22 overnight related to this emergency.
For emergency help in flood or storm contact NSW SES on 132500.
For information on personal hardship and distress assistance, contact Service NSW on 137788.
Paul and Dan Kelly at Rockwood Music Hall (Wikipedia)
By Rod Davies
Most of the music we listen to is made by session musicians. These guns for hire are experts in their field, much sought after and often bring a unique sound – that extra thing that helps to make the recording what it is.
Whether we’re at home or in our cars, at the gym, the shops, a cafe or a pub, recorded performances form the soundtrack to our lives. This soundtrack includes music made by hired freelance instrumentalists and singers whose contributions are vital to the appeal and quality of those recordings.
While we get to enjoy the end product seemingly free of charge, all music that is broadcast or communicated to a listener is licensed by the owner of that recording and a fee is paid for that licence. Collection agencies such as PPCA collect these licences and disperse royalties to the rights holders of the registered recordings.
Does Australia value musicians?
Historically, Australian session musicians have had no economic claim to their recorded performances beyond a basic session fee – an unregulated fee that in real terms, has been going backwards for decades.
While many other countries support the rights of performers to ongoing royalties, Australia is one of a handful of developed economies that does not. This has denied our musicians access to important income streams at home and abroad, placed a limit on our trade with other countries and positioned us as an outlier.
We are seen as a country that does not value musicians the way they are valued elsewhere in the world, a perception that needs to change if we want to provide some incentive for the next generation to keep making music.
So, how did it get to this?
In 1996 the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) drafted the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, which granted performers economic rights for their recorded performances and “equitable remuneration” when these performances were monetised.
Since then, free trade agreements, such as the one between Australia and the United States in 2004, have required that parties sign up to the treaty, which our government did in 2007. Unfortunately, then Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer deliberately excluded Article 15.1 from the agreement, leaving Australian musicians without the same rights as those enjoyed by musicians in other parts of the world.
For example, in the UK, US, most of Europe, as well as Mexico, Brazil, Canada and Japan, performers are assigned a percentage of the licence revenue.
According to Peter Thoms, board member of the UK collection agency PPL,
[…] in the UK, PPL royalties are split 50/50 with the labels and performers. A featured artist, who will be contracted to the label, gets a bigger performer share but session players also share in this revenue. Players who have been active on many recordings receive significant amounts annually. This helps make session playing as a vocation more viable and is a fair recognition of their contribution.
However, when the same recordings are then broadcast in Australia, these musicians are not entitled to any performance royalties. This has led to countries like the UK reciprocating our approach and no longer paying session musicians or artists on Australian recordings when they are broadcast in the UK.
The Australian musician brain drain
The extra twist is that Australian artists with international appeal are now frequently recording outside Australia to enable them to qualify for European royalties, which are paid on a qualifying territory basis.
As Australia is no longer a qualifying territory there is motivation for Australian artists to record in the UK and elsewhere to ensure they can claim equitable remuneration in the big overseas markets.
The WIPO Treaty aimed to “provide adequate solutions to the questions raised by economic, social, cultural and technological developments”, all of which have evolved enormously since 1996. If Australia is to keep up with these changes, it must stop lagging behind and adopt Article 15.1.
This has the potential to increase productivity in the recording economy, including revenue derived from export, and expand a sector that is currently heavily reliant on live music. Increasing passive income streams would also help to grow and sustain the careers of young musicians and support performers through future crises.
What can we do to fix this problem?
The current free trade agreement between Australia and the UK provides us with a political opening for this conversation. The agreement calls for a discussion about measures to ensure “adequate” remuneration for performers and producers of recordings. If we truly value our musicians, adequate must be equitable.
All performers, classical and contemporary, as well as record producers should be having this conversation right now, engaging with other stakeholders and raising awareness.
If the Australian government and recording industry will acknowledge the prevailing conditions for musicians globally and adopt the principle of equitable remuneration, we can begin rebuilding the structures that support payments to performers at home and overseas.
By valuing our musicians more we will add value to the sector, with better economic regulation and new systems connecting all Australian musicians to the larger markets.
So next time you hear music playing, think of the session musicians and producers whose skills helped to make that song a hit – the drummer on X, the trombone player on Y, or the vocalist on that annoying advertisement that’s been running for 20 years – and ask someone close by, why is it that Australian musicians are denied equitable remuneration that exists in so many other parts of the world?
This article has been republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors: Rod Davies is Lecturer in popular music and songwriting at Monash University, Australia.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Bhagwan Jagannath Rath Yatra in Sydney (Image Source: Krishna Kesava Das)
Devotees of Bhagwan Jagannath organised a Rath Yatra in Sydney and even the rain could not stop the Chariot Festival.
The event was organised in Sydney’s Liverpool suburb on 2nd July in celebration of the annual Rath Yatra that takes place in the ancient Indian city of Puri.
Traditionally the Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra consists of Bhagwan Jagannath, his elder brother Balabhadra and younger sister Subhadra being carried on chariots constructed and decorated by devotees and volunteers. The festival is attended by hundreds of thousands of devotees every year.
To mark this important event in the Hindu calender, devotees around the world celebrate this festival by taking out mini versions of the chariots in the cities they live in.
In Australia this year, the Chariot Festival was celebrated in Canberra and Melbourne along with Sydney.
The Chariot Festival in Sydney this year was attended by Indian Council General in Sydney, Manish Gupta and Indian-origin councillor of Liverpool City Council, Charishma Kaliyanda.
Take a look at the vibrant and colourful pictures and video from the festival.
Australia's Resources Minister Madeleine King and Indian Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi; Image Source: Supplied
Australia and India have strengthened cooperation on the development of critical minerals projects and supply chains after a meeting between Australia’s Resources Minister Madeleine King and Indian Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi.
Minister King announced that Australia would commit A$5.8 million to the three-year India-Australia Critical Minerals Investment Partnership.
Ms King also said, Australia and India were natural partners on critical minerals and the two countries shared a commitment to lowering emissions and boosting the use of renewable energy.
“Australia is a trusted supplier of resources and energy to India, and we can build on the success of those established supply chains as Australia’s critical minerals sector grows,”
Minister King further said.
Australia’s Resources Minister Madeleine King and Indian Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi; Image Source: Supplied
“Australia has the resources to help India fulfil its ambitions to lower emissions and meet the growing demand for critical minerals to help India’s space and defence industries, and the manufacture of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles.”
“Australia welcomes India’s strong interest and support for a bilateral partnership which will help advance critical minerals projects in Australia while diversifying global supply chains.”
Indian Minister Joshi reminded that India has recently signed an MoU with Australia.
“We have recently signed an MoU between Khanij Bidesh India Ltd, and the Critical Minerals Facilitation Office (CMFO), Australia, which aims to ensure reliable supplies of Critical and Strategic Minerals to India.”
Australia’s Resources Minister Madeleine King and Indian Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi; Image Source: Supplied
The MoU includes joint due diligence in Lithium and Cobalt mineral assets of Australia. Both CMFO and the Indian JV KABIL will jointly fund the due diligence process with an initial total amount of US$6 million. Once the due diligence is completed and potential projects are identified, we will explore investment opportunities through different methods as envisaged in the MoU.
“India and Australia are natural partners. Not only are both Nations rich in minerals, but our trade relations have witnessed robust growth in recent years, which can be leveraged for strengthening the economies of both countries. Our Honourable Prime Minister is committed to taking the India-Australia relationship to new heights.”
“India is among the fastest-growing economies in the world and there is huge scope for collaboration in the mineral sector. Technology transfer, knowledge-sharing and investment in critical minerals like lithium and cobalt are strategic to achieving clean energy ambitions. The future looks promising for India and Australia.”
Minister Joshi added.
Australia’s Resources Minister Madeleine King and Indian Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi; Image Source: Supplied
Australia hosts vast reserves of critical minerals, such as lithium and cobalt, which are crucial for clean energy technologies such as batteries and electric vehicles, as well as mobile phones and computers.
Following the talks, Minister King and Minister Joshi toured the Tianqi Lithium Refinery at Kwinana in Minister King’s electorate of Brand.
Minister Joshi’s visit comes as the latest quarterly snapshot of Australia’s resources and energy forecasts ongoing strong demand for lithium and other critical minerals on the back of growing global demand for electric vehicles.
Australia’s Resources Minister Madeleine King and Indian Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi; Image Source: Supplied
The June 2022 Resources and Energy Quarterly publication by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, projects the value of Australia’s lithium exports will double from $4.1 billion in 2021-22 to $9.4 billion in 2023-24. Lithium exports were worth only $1.1 billion in 2020-21.
“Australia is the world’s largest exporter of lithium and export opportunities are forecast to keep growing as global demand continues for electric vehicles and clean energy technology, and as more projects and refineries come on line in Australia,”
Minister King said.
“Australia has a reputation as a stable and reliable supplier of resources and energy, and Australian critical minerals will help both Australian and international partners to decarbonise their economies and lower emissions.”
The Albanese Government has a long-standing commitment to building a stronger relationship with India. The Government has committed to an update of the 2018 India Economic Strategy, an annual India-Australia Economic Dialogue, and the development of Indian language capabilities in Australia.
38-year-old Karthik Viswanathan, the Founder of BibVault, is promoting an innovative way of transforming the boring and broken active lifestyle in the local community.
Image source: Karthik Viswanathan.
Karthik, originally from Erode in Tamil Nadu, came to Australia in 2008 to work in the IT industry.
He told The Australia Today that the key idea behind his startup is to “empower people to lead an active lifestyle by connecting with event organisers, businesses, sports clubs, and industry experts.”
Image source: Karthik Viswanathan.
A few years ago, Karthik suffered a foot fracture which made it almost impossible for him to pursue recreational running. He says:
“During this time, I with the help of my wife, Devipriya, were using a mix of various challenges and small rewards to make rehabilitation interesting and effective.”
So, Karthik brought in his years of IT, consulting and business analysis experience and conducted thorough market research to understand deeper issues around active lifestyle transformation.
Image source: Devipriya and Karthik Viswanathan.
The couple soon managed to create this system that uses gamification and socialisation to create an activity-based rewarding platform. Karthik adds that the idea behind this startup is simple:
“When BibVault members move, walk, jog, run or cycle, they accumulate achievement points which can in turn be redeemed for rewards.”
Karthik’s startup managed to secure funding through Wyndham Council’s Small Business Entrepreneurship and Innovation Grant which provided BibVault with an opportunity to accelerate its software development.
He says:
“Recently we have onboarded six organisations under employee wellness category thus empowering organisations to transform the boring and broken active lifestyle of their employees to an inclusive, gamified, fun filled long term journey.”
These challenges can be achieved virtually from anywhere in the world thus making friends and family members participate as well.
Image source: Karthik Viswanathan.
Karthik says that he has started to build BibVault’s rewarding Partner Network and also plans to expand and launch the mobile apps for both Android and iOS. He adds:
“Our partners could be any business that wants to offer their products or services at an exclusive BibVault member discount. In this way, we recognise the achievements of members and bring meaningful potential customers to the businesses.”
BibVault has observed an increased engagement from employees as the innovative platform has seen members clocking over 1750+ active hrs. Karthik is hopeful that his start-up could help bridge the gap that exists in consistent active lifestyle care for employees in small, and medium business organisations in India and Australia.
PM Anthony Albanese in Kyiv; Image Source: Twitter
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Kyiv on Sunday, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
During the meeting, PM Albanese reiterated Australia’s support for the brave people of Ukraine and the incredible defence of their homeland.
PM Anthony Albanese in Kyiv; Image Source: Twitter
PM Albanese said, “My visit to Kyiv and recent visits by other world leaders send a clear message that democratic nations like Australia will stand side-by-side with the Ukrainian people in their time of need.”
“I sincerely thank President Zelenskyy, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Australian Defence Force for ensuring the safety of my visit.”
PM Anthony Albanese in Kyiv; Image Source: Twitter
Mr Albanese also saw first-hand some of the devastation caused by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia’s brutal invasion is a gross violation of international law. I saw first-hand the devastation and trauma it has inflicted on the people of Ukraine.”
PM Anthony Albanese in Kyiv; Image Source: Twitter
Following President Zelenskyy’s request for further support, Australia has announced providing a new package of assistance to Ukraine:
A$99.5 million in military assistance, including 14 armoured personnel carriers, 20 Bushmaster-protected mobility vehicles and other military equipment supplied by Australia’s defence industry, and a contribution to NATO’s Ukraine Comprehensive Assistance Package Trust Fund.
A$8.7 million (US$6 million) to assist Ukraine’s Border Guard Service to upgrade border management equipment, improving cyber security and enhance border operations in the field.
Duty-free access for Ukrainian imports to Australia, complementing similar trade measures taken by our partners, including the UK and the EU.
Australia will intervene at the International Court of Justice in support of Ukraine in its case against Russia.
Targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on 16 additional Russian ministers and oligarchs.
Australia will prohibit imports of Russian gold to reduce Russia’s ability to fund its war, joining with partners, including Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
PM Anthony Albanese in Kyiv; Image Source: Twitter
Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor to Ukraine in the defence of their homeland. This brings Australia’s total military assistance to Ukraine to approximately A$388 million.
Mr Albanese highlighted the importance of democracy and an elected government that can work cohesively with fellow countrymen in a time of crisis.
PM Anthony Albanese in Kyiv; Image Source: Twitter
“President Zelenskyy’s leadership has rallied the Ukrainian people to defend their country and inspired the world to support humanity and freedom. The road ahead is hard but I am confident Ukraine will prevail,” He further added.
The government of Australia has decided to lift all travel restrictions which were in place for more than two years due to COVID-19.
Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil said this will give much-needed respite to holidaymakers and business travellers.
“This is great news for families coming home from school holidays who now don’t need to use the DPD,”
Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil, said.
As per the directive, People travelling to Australia will no longer have to complete a Digital Passenger Declaration (DPD) to declare their COVID-19 vaccination status, following changes to the Biosecurity Act, which comes into effect from midnight AEST on Wednesday 6 July 2022.
The Biosecurity Act changes, which were made following health advice from the Chief Medical Officer, also mean that all visa holders can travel to Australia without needing a travel exemption.
“As more and more of us travel internationally and we get more confident in managing our risk of COVID, our airports are getting busier,”
Minister O’Neil said.
International Travel; Image Source: @CANVA
“Removing these requirements will not only reduce delays in our airports but will encourage more visitors and skilled workers to choose Australia as a destination. And for Australian citizens, with the removal of these requirements, returning home will be much easier,” she added.
Anyone who has travelled internationally since the borders have opened will find this as one less thing to worry about – especially as more Australians get back to travelling overseas.
Great news – from Wednesday a digital passenger declaration is no longer required for travellers returning from overseas. I know the DPD has been a hassle – in time it will replace the incoming passenger card but not until it is much more user friendly. https://t.co/cl3Klv6VPa
Those arriving by sea will also benefit, and no longer need to complete a Maritime Travel Declaration. Airlines, cruise ship operators and other countries may still have specific requirements that travellers need to comply with.
‘Laali’ is a short film of 35 minutes duration, with a stellar performance by the much appreciated, loved, immensely popular, one and only Pankaj Tripathi. ‘Laali’, premiered at Dharamshala international film festival in 2020 and was highly appreciated. ‘Laali’ was released on Netflix on 17th June.
Director Abhiroop Basu has scripted, edited and directed this unusual story of a lonely man’s inherent longing for love. This beautiful film is shot at the same location. Actress Ekavali Khanna makes a small appearance at the end of the film.
Basu saw a laundryman, ironing clothes at his shop in Kolkata. He was surprised to see that a wedding procession with people dancing and singing, passed in front of the shop but the unperturbed ironer kept ironing the clothes. Attracted by this sight, for several days Basu went and observed the man. In the film, he shot the procession scene with Pankaj sitting uninterested.
The essence of the story is, that a true lover understands the pain of endless love enshrined in memories but is constrained to live even in its absence. Basu has shown a philosophy about two necessities of life, ‘time and love’, that time waits for no one and everyone is not lucky in love.
Basu has depicted that people doing laundry, and ironing clothes also have hidden sides and once their shop closes, no one knows what they do inside their shop.
(Image source: Abhiroop Basu Facebook)
In the opening scene, Pankaj Tripathi is seen ironing clothes in his shanty-type garage. Pankaj sees an unclaimed red dress among the clothes and affectionate thoughts come to his mind. He gently caresses the dress, carefully irons it and hangs it on the hanger.
A poster pasted on his wall shows a smiling girl in the same red dress which reads ‘Laali ka orchestra, Gopalganj, 9 September’ in Hindi. Seeing the poster, Pankaj remembers fun times enjoyed with friends and becomes nostalgic.
Dwelling with loneliness, seeing the dress, Pankaj’s romance with ‘Red Dress’ begins and he remembers his girlfriend. Pankaj addresses the dress saying, ‘‘Madamji, like me, no one is going to take you too.’’
(Image source: Abhiroop Basu Facebook)
Pankaj’s feeling of happiness and comfort after getting the red dress is depicted nicely. ‘Objectophilia,’ or ‘object sensuality’ (sexual or romantic attraction to inanimate objects) refers to individuals behaving abnormally in private, developing romantic attachments with objects.
The peculiar personality trait, ‘Objectophilia’ is defined beautifully. When it’s difficult to find a suitable partner or maintain a relationship due to the difficult human approach to relationships, people fall in love with things.
The privileged have access to porn, but for ordinary people, sexuality is in their minds. Pankaj’s staring at a picture of a woman on the roof symbolises this. Pankaj shows the hidden sides and weaknesses of vulnerable humans, playing this hidden human aspect with much ease and making the performance highly appreciable. The stalwart genius of acting, Pankaj acted without rehearsals, using the psychic ability to disguise himself behind the character.
He told Abhiroop Basu,
‘‘You have made a communist film.’’
(Image source: Abhiroop Basu Facebook)
Pankaj is a quintessential actor who breathes life into the character and makes a huge impact, even without dialogues. In an opening nine-minute shot, using a different body language, he is shown gently pressing the dress, and erasing the folds with his hands. Instead of an arthouse extravaganza, performing amazingly, he turned the scene into reality.
He has been able to capture past memories through unique, nuanced body language. In his monotonous, lonely life, after getting the dress, he is happy with a lovable feeling, but one day a lady comes asking about the dress, shattering his dream and waking him.
Abhiroop Basu narrated ‘Laali’s’ story to Pankaj Tripathi at the Mumbai airport and believing in it, he immediately agreed to act in this unusual story. Basu announced only first-takes for the film as an experiment because instead of polishing it, he wanted an organic feel.
In spite of the absence of a lover and the never-forgettable pain from the past, those who have learned to live through their true love’s memories, only they can realise that the ‘silence and red dress’ are fragments of lost love.
‘Laali’ is a must-watch for sensitive audiences.
Contributing Author: Sushma ‘Shandilya’ is a well-known Hindi poet and writer based in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Her short stories, articles and plays have been published in leading Indian publications. Sushma ‘Shandilya’ writes on various contemporary issues including themes around women empowerment. She is also a yoga teacher.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Waterproof Mobile phone (Representative image); Source: @Canva
By Ritesh Chugh
While manufacturers have successfully increased the water-repelling nature of smartphones, they are still far from “waterproof”. A water-resistant product can usually resist water penetration to some extent, but a waterproof product is (meant to be) totally impervious to water.
Last week, Samsung Australia was fined A$14 million by the Australian Federal Court over false representations in ads about the water resistance of its Galaxy phones. The tech giant admitted that submerging Galaxy phones in the pool or sea water could corrode the charging ports and stop the phones from working if charged while still wet.
Similarly, in 2020, Apple was fined €10 million (about A$15.3 million) in Italy for misleading claims about the water-resistance of iPhones.
It’s very common for phones to become damaged as a result of being dropped in water. In a 2018 survey in the US, 39% of respondents said they’d dropped their phones in water. Othersurveys have had similar results.
Waterproof Mobile phone (Representative image); Source: @Canva
So why is it in 2022 – a time when technological marvels surround us – we still don’t have waterproof phones?
Waterproof vs water-resistant
There’s a rating system used to measure devices’ resistance against solids (such as dust) and liquids (namely water). It’s called the Ingress Protection (IP) rating.
An IP rating will have two numbers. In a rating of IP68, 6 refers to protection against solids on a scale of 0 (no protection) to 6 (high protection), and 8 refers to protection against water on a scale of 0 (no protection) to 9 (high protection).
Interestingly, the benchmark for the water-resistance rating varies between manufacturers. For example, Samsung’s IP68-certified phones are water-resistant to a maximum depth of 1.5m in fresh water for up to 30 minutes, and the company cautions against beach or pool use. Some of Apple’s iPhones with an IP68 rating can be used at a maximum depth of 6m for up to 30 minutes.
Yet both Samsung and Apple are unlikely to consider repairing your water-damaged phone under their warranties.
Waterproof Mobile phone (Representative image); Source: @Canva
Moreover, IP rating testing is done under controlled laboratory conditions. In real-life scenarios such as boating, swimming or snorkelling, factors including speed, movement, water pressure and alkalinity all vary. So, gauging a phone’s level of water resistance becomes complicated.
How are phones made water-resistant?
Making a phone water-resistant requires several components and techniques. Typically, the first point of protection is to form a physical barrier around all ingress (entry) points where dust or water could enter. These include the buttons and switches, speakers and microphone outlets, the camera, flash, screen, phone enclosure, USB port and SIM card tray.
These points are covered and sealed using glue, adhesive strips and tapes, silicone seals, rubber rings, gaskets, plastic and metal meshes and water-resistant membranes. After this, a layer of ultra-thin polymer nanocoating is applied to the phone’s circuit board to help repel water.
Nevertheless, a phone’s water resistance will still decrease with time as components age and deteriorate. Apple admits water- and dust resistance are not permanent features of its phones.
Cameras are not entirely impervious to water, but some can tolerate submersion a lot better than smartphones. Often that’s because they’re relatively simpler devices.
Waterproof Mobile phone (Representative image); Source: @Canva
A smartphone has much more functionality, which means internal components are more sensitive, and fragile, and must be built into a smaller casing. All of these factors make it doubly difficult to afford phones with a similar level of water resistance.
Adding water resistance to phones also increases their price for consumers (by 20% to 30%, according to Xiaomi’s co-founder). This is a major consideration for manufacturers – especially since even a small crack can render any waterproofing void.
Keeping devices dry
Apart from nano coating on the internal circuit boards, applying a water-repellent coating to the exterior of a phone could boost protection. Somecompanies are working on this technology for manufacturers.
Future phones might also have circuitry that’s fabricated directly onto (waterproof) silicone material using laser writing techniques, and further coated with water-repellant technologies.
For now, however, there’s no such thing as a waterproof phone. If your phone does find itself at the bottom of a pool or toilet and isn’t turning on, make sure you take the best steps to ensure it dries out properly (and isn’t further damaged).
Waterproof Mobile phone (Representative image); Source: @Canva
You can also buy a waterproof case or dry pouch if you want to completely waterproof your phone for water activities.
This article has been republished from The Conversationunder a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors: Dr Ritesh Chugh is an Associate Professor – Of information and Communications Technology, at CQUniversity Australia.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Saima Beg, a Sydney-based illustrator and painter of Indian origin loves to create material appropriate for children learning and explain them to her 4-year-old daughter.
On 26 June Sunday afternoon as Saima was watching ABC’s Play School program (broadcast around 3.30 pm) with her daughter, she was “shocked and dismayed” to see the distorted map of India showcased to teach young children about Indian culture.
Saima told The Australia Today that whenever something educational related to India comes on Australian TV channels she makes sure her daughter watches it.
“I make it a point to watch it with my daughter Kyra so that she keeps connected with our rich culture and heritage.”
Kyra watching ABC Play School (Supplied)
She further said, “While watching this episode of Play School about Indian culture, a range of emotions ran through me as I was not just shocked but also very dismayed, and to some extent even angered, to see the lack of research in portraying the map of India.”
“To my horror, this map showcased on ABC’s program had integral parts of India such as Jammu and Kashmir and the majority of North East India missing.”
added Ms Beg.
The regions clearly missing from this representative map of India include Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, and Tripura.
Play School is Australia’s most-watched TV show for children. In 2021, Fiji-Indian origin actor and screenwriter Leah Vandenberg created one of the first Indian episodes from ABC Play School featuring a Punjabi tune for kids using Tumbi and Dhol.
Saima who is an illustrator and artist said that she understands “artistic license” but this was an “outright misrepresentation of the geographical boundaries of India”.
She believes,
“Trying to educate children with such ‘an ill-researched program’ will ‘mislead’ Indian-Australian children.”
Just a few hundred kilometres away in Melbourne with the largest Indian Australian community impact of such distorted map specifications can be seen in the younger generation who are born in Australia and are learning through tools like ABC Play School.
Gaurav Kumar Solanki is a healthcare worker with one of the major Hospitals in Melbourne.
He told The Australia Today, I and my wife both work shifts ranging morning, evening and night. We rely on childcare and ABC Playschool programs for kids’ learning and entertainment.
“I could not believe it when my 7-year-old son showed me the map of India he drew while watching ABC Playschool in his childcare.”
Map of India drawn by Gaurav’s son Aditya
Gaurav told The Australia Today, “I was so upset with it that I wrote a letter complaining about the distorted map to ABC.”
He is yet to hear back from ABC.
This is not the first instance of misrepresentation of Indian borders by a public broadcaster. In 2017, the Indian community and India’s High Commissioner in Australia had lodged a formal complaint when Australia’s multicultural public broadcaster SBS had used a map of India showing the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir as disputed territory ironically in a program broadcast on 15 August, India’s Independence Day.
Complaints were filed with SBS for showing the above map (SBS screenshot)
A change.org petition noted: “This act is highly offensive for Indian Diaspora and seems to be agenda-driven on the part of SBS. Jammu and Kashmir, like any other state, is an integral part of India and such attempts by SBS would be seen as a direct attack on the sovereignty of India. No Indian, whether in India or overseas would tolerate such propaganda.”
The anger in the Indian community also prompted Michelle Rowland MP (currently Federal Minister for Communications) to write a strong-worded letter to then SBS CEO Michael Ebeid: “I am informed by a number of my constituents that this map has caused great offence to many Indian-Australians in our community… I would be very grateful for your serious consideration of these concerns.”
An SBS spokesperson was quoted in local media: “SBS World News appreciates that both India and Pakistan lay claim to Kashmir and administer separate parts of the region. The map is designed to be seen as an element within a video, not as a still image. The video shows the changes in boundaries over the past 70 years. It also makes it clear that the Kashmir region is a disputed territory.”
Inaccurate map of India – BBC – Twitter.
Last year, the UK’s public broadcaster BBC had to issue an apology for displaying an incomplete map of India which didn’t include Jammu and Kashmir. This map was part of a video broadcast about President-elect Joe Biden on BBC World Service titled ‘US Election 2020: What do countries around the world want from Joe Biden’.
A BBC spokesperson said: “From London we mistakenly published a map of India online which contained inaccuracies and is not the standard map used by BBC News. It has now been corrected. We apologise for any offence caused.”
Political map of India (https://surveyofindia.gov.in/documents/polmap-eng-11012021.jpg)
The first set of data from the 2021 census has been released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and it shows that in 2021 more than 600,000 residents were born in India. In this surge, India-born people have now overtaken people born in China and New Zealand. This is an increase of 220,000, or 47.9% per cent, since the 2016 census.
Saima hopes that public broadcasters and other media organisations in the future will do due diligence before reporting on the ever-increasing Indian diaspora and the rich and vibrant socio-cultural traditions they bring to Australia.
The Australia Today has emailed ABC regarding their policy on using map of India and will update the story with their response.
Fiji Elections 2022; Image Source: Dr Shailendra Singh
By Shailendra Singh
In Fiji’s politically charged context, national elections are historically a risky period. Since the 2022 campaign period was declared open on 26 April, the intensity has been increasing. With three governments toppled by coups after the 1987, 1999 and 2006 elections, concerns about a smooth transfer of power in 2022 are part of the national discourse.
Fiji’s major parties
The frontrunners in the election, which must be called by January 2023 but is likely to be held later this year, are two former military strongmen, both with a coup or two to their names — Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
Rabuka took power through the 1987 coups in the name of Indigenous self-determination. He became the elected prime minister in 1992 but lost power in 1999 after forming a coalition with a largely Indo–Fijian party. Bainimarama staged his 2006 coup in the name of good governance, multiracialism and eradicating corruption before restoring electoral democracy and winning elections under the FijiFirst (FF) party banner in 2014 and 2018.
FF was formed by the leaders and supporters of the 2006 coup, with the post-coup interim government promulgating the 2013 constitution, which represented substantial changes in Fiji’s electoral system (Nakagawa 2020). These changes include a single multi-member constituency and a single national roll. For the first time, ethnic-based voting was eliminated, which won the Bainimarama government some praise (Lal 2021). Bainimarama garnered 69 per cent of FF’s total votes in 2014 and 73.81 per cent in 2018, demonstrating the extent to which his party’s fortunes rest on his personal popularity.
Following his split with the major Indigenous Fijian party, Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA), Rabuka formed and now heads the People’s Alliance Party (PAP). The split came after Rabuka lost a leadership tussle with SODELPA stalwart Viliame Gavoka. Rabuka’s departure is seen as a setback for SODELPA, given that he attracted 77,040, or 42.55 per cent, of the total SODELPA votes in 2018. Data on ethnic voting patterns is not available, but in 2014, SODELPA won 28.18 per cent of the total national vote, improving to 39.85 per cent in 2018.
Fiji Elections 2022; Image Source: Dr Shailendra Singh
The formation of PAP could divide the Indigenous Fijian voting bloc, the largest in the country. If Rabuka maintains his popularity, the Indigenous Fijian votes could go to PAP at SODELPA’s expense. Ratuva (2016) estimated that about half of Indigenous voters supported FF in 2014.
In all, there are eight opposition parties vying for 55 seats in this election compared to 51 in the last election. Under the electoral system, pre-election coalitions are of little, if any, consequence, as they are not considered in the allocation of seats. All parties must meet the five per cent election threshold individually to make it into parliament.
Any bickering in the opposition ranks also advantages the sitting party, such as the war of words between National Federation Party (NFP) leader Biman Prasad and his Fiji Labour Party counterpart, former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry, as well as between Rabuka and the Unity Party’s Savenaca Narube. In his Grubsheet blog on Facebook, Fiji-born Australia-based journalist Graham Davies described the ruckus as the ”Balkanisation” of opposition politics’ and called it a ‘tragedy’.
Key campaign issues
The key election issue is the economy, including cost of living and the national debt. COVID-19 brought a sudden halt to tourism, which constituted 39 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and threw 115,000 people out of work. According to the Ministry of Economy (2022), heavy borrowing saw the:
“debt-to-GDP ratio increase to over 80 per cent of GDP at the end of March 2022 compared to around 48 per cent of GDP prepandemic … [It] is projected to increase to 88.6 per cent of GDP at the end of July 2022.”
The government stated that it borrowed to prevent economic collapse (Ministry of Economy 2022), while the opposition accused it of reckless spending. The World Bank put the poverty level in Fiji at 24.1 per cent in April 2022, but NFP’s Prasad estimates it at over 50 per cent due to unemployment and pay cuts.
Fiji Parliament Chambers (Wikimedia Commons)
Amid the criticism, Bainimarama cut a confident figure in April, proclaiming: ‘I will win this election. There are no two ways about this’. His government is touting nine years of consecutive economic growth on the back of strong investment in infrastructure development and a successful vaccination campaign that allowed the revival of tourism, with arrivals forecast to exceed 440,000 in 2022.
However, inflation reached 4.7 per cent in April (up from 1.9 per cent in February), and while the government blames price increases in wheat, fuel and other staples on the war in Ukraine, the opposition attributes it to poor economic fundamentals. In its campaign, the opposition is also highlighting problems in the health sector due to shortages in drugs, staffing and dilapidated equipment in addition to accusing the government of corruption and suppressing human rights and media freedom.
Apprehension
Against the background of pressing economic and social issues loom concerns about a smooth transfer of power should FF lose. Besides Fiji’s coup culture, such anxieties are fueled by a constitutional provision seen to give the military carte blanche to intervene in national politics. Section 131(2) of the 2013 Fijian constitution states: ‘It shall be the overall responsibility of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and well-being of Fiji and all Fijians’ (Constitution of the Republic of Fiji 2013).
Last December, NFP President Pio Tikoduadua called for a national dialogue on Section 131(2) to clarify perceptions that the constitution legitimised the military to ‘intervene freely in the governance of the State’. All of these dynamics play into what is expected to be the most intense of the three elections held under the 2013 constitution, especially given FF’s razor-thin 50.02 per cent win in 2018 compared to its 59.14 per cent win in 2014.
Though the opposition thinks it has a chance to win, it feels disadvantaged by certain electoral provisions, including the Electoral Act 116(4C), which requires political party representatives making campaign promises to provide written explanations on how the revenues will be raised and used, with a FJ$50,000 fine and/or maximum 10 years imprisonment for non-compliance.
It is thought that another proposed working arrangement between Labour, Unity Fiji and Sri Lankan-born Jagath Karunaratne’s Freedom Alliance party will have a minimum impact due to their small voter base. That said, as the former governor of the Reserve Bank, Unity leader Narube’s commentary on economic matters has catapulted him into the national debate, although he and his party trail both Bainimarama and Rabuka.
While the pre-election partnership between PAP and NFP could be a viable multiethnic alternative to FF, it is not without risks in the country’s complex political milieu. In the 1999 election, the coalition between Rabuka’s Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei Party and NFP failed when Rabuka’s 1987 coup history was highlighted during campaigning.
This saw NFP’s Fijian supporters of Indian descent desert the party. Whether history will repeat itself is one of the intriguing questions in this election. According to some estimates, FF received 71 per cent of Indo–Fijian votes in 2014 (Nakagawa 2020), and capturing this support base is crucial for the opposition’s chances. For its supporters, FF represents stability, continuity and progress; whether they are willing to risk the status quo by voting for the opposition in large enough numbers remains to be seen.
Conclusion
Director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute Jonathan Pryke expects a ‘hotly contested’ election:
“I think there will be a lot of personality politics thrown into the middle, but I hope that there is a lot of focus as well on these big policy issues that are going to define Fiji’s economic and development trajectory for the next decade.”
Though the election may be intensely contested, the hope is for a smooth transfer of power should opposition efforts prevail, or else risk the potential derailment of Fiji’s social and economic trajectory.
Contributing Author: Dr Shailendra Singh is an associate professor in Pacific journalism, the head of the University of the South Pacific (USP) journalism program and the 2022 Pacific Research Fellow with the Department of Pacific Affairs.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Million Dollar House; Image Source: Creative commons
The inevitable decline in house prices is underway and falls are expected to accelerate in the coming months as rising interest rates take their toll.
CoreLogic’s home value index has fallen for the second month in a row, after declining 0.6 per cent in June when the central bank delivered another rate hike.
“Considering inflation is likely to remain stubbornly high for some time, and interest rates are expected to rise substantially in response, it’s likely the rate of decline in housing values will continue to gather steam and become more widespread,” CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said on Friday.
The national fall in home values was driven by sharp monthly declines in Sydney (down 1.6 per cent) and Melbourne (down 1.1 per cent)
Market-Mantra-Stocks; Picture Source: @CANVA
But Adelaide is defying the downward trend in other capital cities and regional areas, with home values rising by 1.3 per cent.
Since the central bank started hiking the cash rate in May for the first time in years, most housing markets around the country have seen sharp reductions in the rate of growth of home values.
The last hike in June took the cash rate to 0.85 per cent, prompting many banks to raise rates on their variable and fixed mortgage products.
“Home prices have begun their descent,” Commonwealth Bank head of Australian economics Gareth Aird said.
Image source: Big Four OZ banks – Wikipedia.
In May, the CoreLogic home value index fell for the first time since September 2020, led by declines in Sydney, Melbourne and Australia’s second most expensive property market, Canberra.
Still, the national home value index is up 11.2 per cent over the year ended June 30.
Since values peaked in May 2021, consumer sentiment has soured, hitting its lowest level since April 2020 and the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The May and June Reserve Bank cash rate increases have put an end to an era of home loan interest rates below two per cent, something we may never see again,” financial comparison website Canstar’s Steve Mickenbecker said.
The housing boom had already pushed housing affordability to extreme levels but now would-be buyers are facing high inflation and a higher cost of debt, which is flowing through to less demand for housing.
NEERAJ CHOPRA Indian javelin thrower; Image Source: @Instagram @NeerajChopra
Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra gave another sterling performance on as he clinched gold in the 2022 Kuortane Games in Finland.
Neeraj threw 86.69 meters to clinch the top prize in tricky and wet conditions. In rainy conditions, Chopra started well but there was a foul in his second throw.
The Indian javelin thrower hit the spot on his very first try at the tournament, had a foul on his second try, and bore a nasty slip in his third attempt, following which he chose to skip the remaining two attempts.
Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad settled for silver with a throw of 86.64m while Anderson Peters claimed bronze with a throw of 84.75m. India’s Sandeep Chaudhury was eighth in the standings with a throw of 60.35m.
The 24-year-old Chopra slipped after his third attempt in Kuortane on Saturday. He took to his Twitter and posted a video of himself and wrote,
“Tough conditions with the weather, but happy to get my first win of the season here at Kuortane. I’m feeling good and looking forward to kicking off my Diamond League season at @BAUHAUSGALAN on the 30th. Thank you for all the messages and support.”
It felt amazing to be back on the Diamond League circuit and even better to get a new PB! All the throwers put up a great show tonight for the crowd in Stockholm!
Earlier this month, Neeraj took part at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland and won a silver medal while setting a new national record with a throw of 89.30m. The Golden Boy of India will next take part in the Stockholm leg of the Diamond League on June 30.
Indian Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur lavished praise on Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra for clinching gold in the 2022 Kuortane Games in Finland.
“Gold for Neeraj! He’s done it again, what an incredible champion! Best throw of 86.69m in his 1st attempt at the #KuortaneGames2022@Neeraj_chopra1 clinches the top spot and goes on to win his 1st of the season. BRILLIANT,”
tweeted Anurag Thakur.
Olympic Champion @Neeraj_chopra1 sets the new National Record and Personal Best at 2022 #StockholmDL with a throw of 89.94m, finishing 2nd
By Mary Anne Kenny, Ali Reza Yunespour, Carol Grech, and Nicholas Procter
The election of the Albanese Labor government brings an opportunity to end one of the most detrimental elements of Australian refugee law and policy in the past decade: the use of temporary visas.
Temporary protection has been the only option available for asylum seekers who arrived by boat a decade ago and were recognised as refugees. Known as the “legacy caseload”, these people are caught in a system of law and policy that keeps them in a state of perpetual limbo.
As the new government committed to end temporary protection, we have just published a policy brief with the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law outlining how this could be achieved.
Our report sets out practical reforms that can be implemented relatively simply, within existing legislative provisions and with only minimal changes to policy and regulations.
The 17 recommendations were produced in consultation with refugees and asylum seekers living on temporary protection visas and bridging visas. We also consulted civil society, including former and current temporary protection visa holders and legal groups working with refugees.
The impact of temporary protection and the fast-track system on refugees and asylum seekers has left many depressed and suicidal. Expectations from those living on temporary visas and the wider refugee advocates are high and there is significant apprehension about the transition.
The new government understands it will need to approach reforms carefully. Our recommendations are accompanied by a trauma-informed strategy to help reduce mental distress, deterioration and retraumatisation of asylum seekers, while also increasing community engagement.
In 2014, the Coalition government reintroduced a Howard-era three-year Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) and a five-year Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) for the more than 30,000 people who arrived by boat between August 13 2012 and January 1 2014.
However, unlike the earlier Howard policy, the temporary visas this time provided no realistic prospect of applying for permanent protection.
The number of people in this “legacy caseload” as of May 2022 is 31,256.
They come from many countries. The largest number are from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The majority – around 19,500 people – have been found to be refugees and have been granted TPV and SHEV.
The 10,000 who have been refused a visa were assessed through a “fast-track” process that has been neither fair nor fast.
People who have been refused have been living in the Australian community for ten years or more while awaiting the outcome of appeals.
There are also many asylum seekers from Afghanistan who have been refused visas but who cannot return due to the reemergence of the Taliban in August 2021.
In other words, some of those refused visas may well be refugees or have other ties to the Australian community. However, the current legal system does not allow them to apply for other visas without going through cumbersome, expensive appeals and ministerial intervention processes.
People who hold TPVs and SHEVs are allowed to work but not to reunite with family or travel freely overseas.
Others live on precarious short-term bridging visas, some without the right to work. Many are without access to income support. In either situation, the uncertainty is damaging people’s mental health and well-being.
Key recommendations
The focus of the policy brief was to set out reforms either within the current legislative and policy framework, or with minimal changes.
This means changes can occur within a relatively short time frame.
Key recommendations include:
refugees on TPVs and SHEVs should be moved onto permanent visas known as Resolution of Status visas. People who have not yet been assessed or who have previously been refused protection should also be able to apply for a permanent visa that does not require another assessment of their protection claims
restrictions on travel for TPV and SHEV holders should be removed, pending the grant of a permanent visa and includes specific recommendations in relation to travel documents. Travel is essential for re-establishing links to separated family
family reunion, particularly partners and children, should be prioritised. Granting people permanent visas allows them to begin the process of family reunion through the family or humanitarian programs
the government should establish a specialised team in the Department of Home Affairs to work closely with migration agents, lawyers and refugee communities. This group could identify other options for allowing reunification of close relatives and children who, under current law, may not fall within the definition of “member of a family unit”. Families have been separated for at least 10 years; many left children at home who have now reached ages where they will no longer be considered dependent.
In 2014, the new minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs Andrew Giles said
Labor has a longstanding policy of opposing TPVs, for good reason. They do not provide a sustainable solution for refugees. The uncertainty exacerbates real mental health issues and denies people the capacity to live full lives. As well as significant international law concerns with these provisions, they put people in limbo. There is no deterrence value here, even if you accept that to be a valid policy objective – they only place vulnerable people in a place of uncertainty.
He now has significant power to put those words into action.
This article has been republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors:Mary Anne Kenny is Associate Professor in School of Law at Murdoch University. Ali Reza Yunespour is Academic Internships Coordinator at The University of Melbourne. Carol Grech is Professor, University of South Australia. Nicholas Procter is Professor and Chair: Mental Health Nursing at University of South Australia.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Each year Australians waste around 7.6 million tonnes of food across the supply and consumption chain. According to experts, this wastage equals about 312kg per person which is equivalent to around one in five bags of groceries or $2,000 to $2,500 per household per year. The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (AWE) has observed that this food waste costs around $36.6 billion each year to the Australian economy.
Dr Kiran Mahale, a 38 years old Research Scientist from the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Toowoomba has discovered an innovative approach to convert Agricultural and food processing waste to value-added products like nutraceutical, important bioactive compounds and Ethanol to blend with petrol to produce efficient E10 fuel.
Dr Kiran Mahale (Facebook)
Dr Mahale, who is orginally from Shada district Nandurbar in Maharashtra, India, received his Master of Biotechnology (Honours) from Deakin University in 2011 and Ph.D. in 2021 from the University of Southern Queensland (USQ-Australia) in food waste as a source of energy: conventional and innovative approach.
He told The Australia Today that since childhood he was taught to respect food and not to waste it. Dr Mahale mentioned that even Hindu Vedas say: “Anna he purn Bramha” (food is next to God). This led to his interest in researching on ways to utilize agricultural and food processing waste for value-added products and energy production and storage devices. Dr Mahale adds:
“Reducing food waste is respectful to the growers who spent their lives growing it. Food is meant to be consumed not thrown. I first started looking at winery waste. I found after they had crushed the grapes and taken the juice, the residue was discarded.”
The solid discarded residue, according to Dr Mahale, actually has “many different chemical compounds which are pharmaceutically very important and in high demand.” He adds:
“ONE OF THE COMPOUNDS I EXTRACTED AND PURIFIED WAS MALVIDIN-3-GLUCOSIDE, WHICH HAS A MARKET PRICE OF $317 FOR 10MG. THIS SHOWS THAT, IN SOME CASES, WINERIES CAN MAKE MORE MONEY BY REPROCESSING THEIR WASTE THAN SELLING WINE.”
Dr Mahale believes this could solve the world’s fuel problems and give a cheap and eco-friendly alternate reusable fuel option.
Dr Kiran Mahale (Facebook)
Dr Mahale says that repurposing food waste could also help save water. He believes that keeping in mind the recently signed MOU of rural and urban water management, his research could be used in bringing Australia and India closer as the carbon he made from processing left-over food has demonstrated as an excellent water purifier. He observes:
“Reducing food waste is respectful to the growers who spent their lives growing it. Food is meant to be consumed not thrown.”
Dr Mahale is confident that his research produces a value-added product that can both help keep the environment clean and provide additional revenue for the farmers.
R Madhavan plays the role of the eponymous, Indian scientist, Nambi Narayanan, a former ISRO scientist and aerospace engineer, and has also directed, produced and written the film.
Tracing the life of Dr Narayanan, renowned for developing the Vikas Engine – one of the most efficient liquid fuel engines in the world today that continues to be a workhorse at The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in almost every launch with the unique distinction of never having failed – the former ISRO scientist and aerospace engineer was inevitably embroiled in a spy scandal.
The biographical drama will unveil the truth behind the mystery as it unravels in an interview with celebrated superstars of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan (in English and Hindi) and Suriya Sivakumar (in Tamil) on a TV programme.
Like many great minds, Dr Nambi is also deeply flawed, his genius and obsession earning him enemies and detractors, thus making him a compelling modern protagonist.
Beyond serving as a treatise for the vindication of quiet achievers in society, the film also challenges the audience to take up the responsibility of recognising, and celebrating these special contributors, whether it be a Dr Nambi Narayanan or a teacher educating poor kids, soldiers at the border, doctors serving in remote villages, or volunteers helping the needy.
It also raises a powerful question – Why aren’t we standing up collectively to defend the innocenct and powerless against the hegemony of the powers that be? For every Nambi, there are a thousand more quiet achievers fighting for justice.
R Madhavan in an exclusive interview told The Australia Today that The movie Rocketry: The Nambi Effect has been shot simultaneously in multiple languages including Hindi, Tamil and English, with the English version premiering at the prestigious Cannes international film festival.
The movie’s theatrical release, scheduled for 1st July, will also feature Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada versions.
Staged on a mammoth scale, the film has been shot in India, France, Canada, Georgia, Serbia and Russia. It features an ensemble star cast comprising acclaimed, international actors Phyllis Logan, Vincent Riotta and Ron Donachie alongside R Madhavan,Simran, Rajit Kapur, Ravi Raghavendra, Misha Ghoshal, Gulshan Grover, Karthik Kumar and Dinesh Prabhakar, with special appearances from superstars, Shah Rukh Khan and Suriya.
Language: English, Hindi (With English subtitles) Director: R. Madhavan Producer: Tricolour Films; Varghese Moolan Pictures Cast: R. Madhavan, Shah Rukh Khan, Gulshan Grover
India’s motor giant Mahindra has revealed in a tweet that its 2023 Mahindra Scorpio-Nwill be released has in Australia in 2023. This will be released in Australia alongside its popular XUV700 medium SUV which has been delayed from its initial late 2022 launch.
The All-New Scorpio-N from Mahindra. Combining performance, technology, capability, and a rich legacy of Mahindra’s Authentic SUV DNA
It is reported that the seven-seater Scorpio-N has a body-on-frame four-wheel-drive with new styling, more space, and a modern interior. Other available interior features include a sunroof, wireless phone charging, dual-zone climate control, second-row air vents, a cooled glovebox, reversing camera, USB-A and USB-C ports, and push-button start.
The Scorpio-N measures 4662mm long, 1917mm wide and 1857mm tall, and sits on a 2750mm wheelbase. In India, Scorpio-N is sold between 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol and 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engines, mated to a choice of six-speed manual and automatic transmissions, and rear- or four-wheel drive.
However, drive.com.au has reported that Scorpio-N is not available with any form of advanced safety technology such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB) or lane-keep assist.
The Australian government has set 1 March 2023 as the cut-off date for the mandatory fitment of AEB on newly-launched vehicles. So, if Mahindra plans to launch its Scorpio-N without AEB, the Indian car giant must go into production before this deadline. Further, to keep selling its Scorpio-N in Australia, Mahindra must gain the AEB technology before March 2025.
Recently, India’s Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari has approved the draft notification to introduce Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) crash testing program. In his tweets, Gadkari said that this is similar to international standards such as Australia’s ANCAP: “The testing protocol of Bharat NCAP shall be aligned with Global Crash Test Protocols factoring in the existing Indian regulations, allowing OEMs to get their vehicles tested at India’s own in-house testing facilities.”
I have now approved the Draft GSR Notification to introduce Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Program), wherein automobiles in India shall be accorded Star Ratings based upon their performance in Crash Tests. @PMOIndia
Scorpio-N in India costs just under two million rupees that is equal to around $AU36,000. Experts believe that Mahindra will announce the full pricing and specifications of Scorpio-N closer to its Australian launch.
Australia’s Omicron wave earlier this year was much larger than we thought, recent research has confirmed. We also heard Health Minister Mark Butler acknowledge Australia can expect a “very big wave” of people with long COVID over the next few years.
New data has revealed the first wave of Omicron was at least twice the size of initial reports.
Doctors and researchers have been warning about the growing threat of long COVID, as restrictions ease and case numbers climb.
So we need to take an urgent look at how we manage and treat it.
hat’s long COVID?
More than 7 million Australians have had COVID; most have recovered from the acute illness. But some have lingering symptoms for months, or longer.
The World Health Organization defines long COVID as symptoms present three months after infection, lasting at least two months, that cannot be attributed to other diagnoses.
The most common symptoms include: fatigue, especially after activity, shortness of breath, brain fog or difficulty concentrating, sleep problems, chronic cough, muscle aches and pains, loss of smell or taste, depression and anxiety.
But there is no one test that diagnoses long COVID. So this multitude of complex symptoms makes it a difficult condition to track down, study and treat.
Who’s more likely to get long COVID?
The risk of long COVID is increasedin peoplewho have had more severe COVID, women and people with a chronic illness, such as diabetes, or chronic lung or heart disease.
A US study looked at 4.5 million people treated in the community or in hospital, and followed them to see if they developed long COVID. At six months, 7% had symptoms.
Worryingly this study also suggests being vaccinated only reduced the risk of long COVID by 15%. Symptoms such as brain fog and fatigue were present and vaccination seemed only partly protective against them.
Tens of millions of Americans may already have long COVID, leading to a tidal wave of disability. Australia lags about 24 months behind the US, but this will hit us too, upending the narrative that #COVID19 is no worse than a cold @billshortenmphttps://t.co/EKKNBRDJRR
Australia’s National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce’s recommendations for treating long COVID were updated in May. But these borrow heavily from UK recommendations and the evidence backing these recommendations is at best weak.
In the UK “long COVID clinics” have adopted a medical-led holistic model of care. This involves GPs, specialists and allied health workers, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists and exercise physiologists. Similar clinics have been set up in Australia.
However, the advice for such clinics is based on consensus and experience of similar conditions, such as chronic fatigue, and what we know about how people recover after leaving intensive care, rather than the results of robust studies focusing on long COVID.
UK advice for treating long COVID involves looking for and managing COVID complications that may affect the lungs, lead to heart disease and managing other existing conditions, such as obesity and diabetes. It also recommends assessing and managing anxiety and depression, which not surprisingly is common in people with long COVID.
UK guidelines advise supporting people to manage their own symptoms, including getting support from their GP, then referral to specialist services when needed.
If people had COVID pneumonia – especially those who went to intensive care, still have breathing problems and are weak – there is some limited evidence pulmonary rehabilitation helps. This is out-patient care with specialist physiotherapists and nurses, involving breathing exercises, education and support.
Two small trials have shown pulmonary rehabilitation, improves breathlessness, exercise capacity, fatigue and quality of life. So this is now recommended.
How to manage fatigue, pain and brain fog?
However, breathing problems are only one component of long COVID.
For people with long COVID and severe fatigue or pain following exertion, a standard exercise program may make things worse. Here, the recommendation is for an initial period of rest then incremental increase in activity, often over many months. However, the optimal approach is not defined.
Neurological symptoms of poor concentration or brain fog, sleep disturbance and altered taste are common, but as yet there are no agreed or proven therapies.
Some people with the most severe neurological symptoms and fatigue develop a disabling condition known as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome or POTS. When people stand up, their heart races and blood pressure falls. This leads to severe fatigue, headaches and difficulty concentrating.
This condition can be treated by modifying someone’s diet and taking medication. We know this because we see POTS after other infectious diseases or other prolonged, severe diseases that lead to hospitalisation. However, we need clinical trials for these therapies for long COVID to see which treatments work and for whom.
“One of the things I'm seeing in the majority of my patients is a high heart rate or something called POTS [postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome],"
There are many aspects of long COVID that health authorities, doctors and researchers have yet to pin down.
We still don’t know what causes long COVID, we don’t have a universally accepted definition of it, robust data to say how many Australians are or will be affected, nor a concrete plan of how to manage the many thousands of cases we can expect. So evidence-based treatments for long COVID are only part of the picture.
What causes Long Covid? Nice discussion of approach to potential mechanisms – microthromboses – persistent virus – enduring immune activation https://t.co/Hy2Y2niP38
But the problem we face is here now. We cannot wait for gold-standard evidence to come in before we start treating people.
In the meantime, people need reliable information about the symptoms of long COVID, what to expect and where to go for help. And health professionals need to take their symptoms seriously.
Health professionals also need training in how to manage people with long COVID, targeting appropriate investigations and treatments that will benefit people the most.
That does not just mean specialised long COVID clinics in capital cities, though it is likely we will need these to help people with the most debilitating problems.
Our response will also need to leverage help from a range of existing health providers, and a coordinated response to deal with symptoms that range from mild to severely debilitating. People need support for rehabilitation, mental health and return to work or study.
If we do not start planning and preparing now, the problem will only worsen.
This article has been republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors: Peter Wark is Conjoint Professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Harshjot Gill at IFBB NSW 2022 (Image source: Harshjot Gill)
Harshjot Gill, who hails from Ganganagar, Rajasthan, moved to Australia in 2017 to pursue a bachelor’s in Information Technology. Besides his passion for computers, Harshjot is also passionate about fitness and is pursuing a career in bodybuilding.
He recently took part in the IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilding) Australia NSW 2022 competition held in April this year. The Australia Today spoke with the 24-year-old to know more about his journey and his plans ahead.
Tell us about your background and how did you get into bodybuilding?
When I started this journey I didn’t really have a goal to complete or make a career in this field. I used to be tech-savvy and was really passionate about computers and video games. But somewhere a part of me always wanted to become an athlete like my grandfather. He has always been my inspiration and would encourage me to do whatever I want to do.
And with time, I grew a lot of interest in training. When I saw my body changing and people would come up to me to appreciate my hard work then I realised this isn’t just a hobby, it’s my passion and that’s when I decided to pursue it further.
(Image source: Harshjot Gill)
How was your experience taking part in IFBB competition in Australia?
This competition wasn’t just a game for me, instead, it was a game-changer. It made me disciplined in my life. Before this competition I wasn’t sure what I’m going to do in my life but after I went on stage I fell in love with that feeling when everyone was cheering me and had a faith in me, that moment made me feel alive and I decided that this is what I want to do rest of my life.
What kind of effort is required to have the physical fitness to become a professional bodybuilder?
First and foremost, you need to have a set goal that that’s what you want to achieve and then you have to discipline yourself to have a healthy diet plan not just at the time of competition but throughout your entire life. You have to balance your binge eating and be consistent with your training with a structured plan.
(Image source: Harshjot Gill)
As an Indian-Australian have you ever felt disadvantaged competing here or that has never been the case?
I don’t really think that there is any kind of disadvantage to me being an Indian- Australian.
(Video source: Harshjot Gill)
What advicewould you give to youngsters in Australia or India who want to get into it?
My advice to youngsters would be to be that everyone can do what they want to do if they set their mind onto something, Because me being an ectomorph it was really hard for me to gain muscle, no matter how much I would eat. So, it took me a fair bit of time to be where I am but patience and consistency are the keys.
Hindu man Kanahiya lal beheaded by Islamist terrorist; Image Source; The Australia Today
A Hindu man named Kanhaiya Lal was beheaded by two radical Muslim men in the Indian state of Rajasthan’s Udaipur city on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident took place in Udaipur’s Maldas area.
Soon after committing the crime, the two accused posted a video on social media boasting about the beheading and threatened Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s life as well
The victim Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, reportedly had recently shared a social media post in support of Nupur Sharma– former BJP spokesperson who had made remarks on a TV debate that many in the Muslim community found controversial.
Since then Mr Lal was receiving death threats from local radical Islamist groups. The victims’ family has accused local police of not responding to their complaints.
Gaus Mohammed and Riyaz, who beheaded Kanahiya lal (Left); Image Source; The Australia Today
Following the gruesome murder, local markets in the area were shut as the traders demanded justice for the victim.
One of the assailants, who was identified as Riyaz Akhtar, attacked Kanhaiya Lal with a sharp-edged weapon while the other, Ghos Mohammad, recorded the crime on his mobile phone, Udaipur Police told media.
The arrested accused, namely Gaus Mohammed and Riyaz, who beheaded a man, both the residents of Surajpole in Udaipur on Tuesday. (Image Source: Udaipur Police)
“Both the accused have been detained and the law and order situation is under control. Some people were attempting to come out of the bylanes but were controlled. Curfew imposed in the nearby areas,”
Manoj Kumar, SP, Udaipur said.
The accused are from the Surajpole area of Udaipur.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told the media “Both the accused who brutally murdered a man in Udaipur were arrested from Rajsamand.”
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot speaks on media to Udaipur Murder incident, in Jodhpur on Tuesday; Image Source: Twitter
“The investigation, in this case, will be done under the Case Officer Scheme and by ensuring speedy investigation; the criminals will be punished severely in the court,”
Mr Gehlot added.
State Chief Secretary has ordered a temporary suspension of internet services for the next 24 hours in all districts of the Rajasthan and a Curfew was imposed in the nearby areas.
Hours after a video went viral on social media wherein a shopkeeper is seen being attacked by two men in Udaipur, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot “It is a sad and shameful incident. There is a tense atmosphere in the nation today.”
Locals protest after two men behead youth in Udaipur’s Maldas on Tuesday. Image Source: Twitter
“It is a very sad incident. It is not a small incident, what has happened is beyond one’s imagination. The culprits will not be spared,”
Mr Gehlot said.
Udaipur Divisional Commissioner Rajendra Bhatt appealed to the people to maintain peace.
Radical Islamist Riyaz Akhtar and Ghos Mohammad: Image Source: Screen Shot online video
“The (victim Kanhaiya Lal’s) dependents have been assured of recruitment through placement service in UIT, and the family will be given compensation of Rs 5 lakhs,”
said Bhatt.
They wanted to spread fear and have accomplished their task. Hindus have faced it for centuries but they are not martial-minded. It will change nothing.
Meanwhile, a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) rushed to Udaipur following the incident, said local media. The NIA team includes a Deputy Inspector General (DIG)-rank officer, the move comes following an order issued by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
As per government sources, the NIA team is likely to file a case under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after visiting the crime spot.
This is the chilling video of the murder of Hindu tailor Kanhaiyalal by Islamist radicals who posed as customers and then suddenly attacked and killed him on the spot with knives chanting religious slogans. Tailor screams asking them for a reason why they were attacking him… pic.twitter.com/yNuf8isbCh
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind on Tuesday condemned the Udaipur killing incident and called it against Islam and the law of the land.
“Maulana Halceemuddin Qasmi, General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, has condemned the incident of brutal killing in Udaipur apparently on the pretext of the insult to the Prophet (PBUH) and called it against the law of land and against the religion of Islam,”
reads the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind statement.
“He has said whoever has perpetrated this incident cannot be justified in any way, it is against the law of the land and our religion. In our country, there is a system of law, no one has the right to take the law into his own hands. Maulana Hakeemuddin Qasmi appealed to all the citizens of the country to restrain their emotions and maintain peace in the country,” it added.
The Background:
Earlier, the Indian ruling party BJP had suspended party spokesperson Nupur Sharma this month for her remarks during a TV debate that was considered objectionable by a large section of the Muslim community.
“Kamlesh Tiwari was killed 5 years later, we won’t leave Nupur Sharma too. Insulting Prophet is signing the suicide note”: Open threat by so called Cleric
— Flt Lt Anoop Verma (Retd.) (@FltLtAnoopVerma) June 20, 2022
The video of her remarks was made viral and religious sentiments were provoked by many social media influencers including journalists and civil society activists. After this, a lot of radical Islamists made calls for Nupur Sharma’s murder and rape.
She along with her family has been living in hiding since then, Indian police are providing her security as it has been classified by security agencies that there is an imminent threat to her life from radical Islamists.
A lot of people globally who oppose Islamic blasphemy laws have come out in support of Nupur Sharma and free speech.
Victim Kanhaiya Lal was one of them, however, he had to pay the price with his own life.
There have been other religiously motivated gruesome murders in the recent past in different countries by radical Islamists.
In April 2017 Mashal Khan, a Muslim student, was lynched to death in Mardan, Pakistan, on a university campus after allegations of ‘blasphemy’
In October 2019 Indian politician Kamlesh Tiwari was murdered in Lucknow in India. His throat was slit and he was shot.
In October 2020 French teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded on the streets of Paris in France.
In October 2021 British MP David Amess was stabbed to death in his constituency of Essex in England.
In May 2022 Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a Christian student who was accused of ‘blasphemy’, was lynched and burned alive by a mob in Sokoto in Nigeria on a university campus.
The first set of data from the 2021 census has been released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and it shows that in 2021 more than 600,000 residents were born in India.
Australia’s national population grew by about two million people to 25.4 million since the last census. In this surge, India-born people have now overtaken people born in China (excluding SARs* and Taiwan) and New Zealand. The most common country of birth still remains Australia, followed by England.
673,352 people living in Australia have reported India as their country of birth. This is an increase of 220,000, or 47.9% per cent, since 2016.
ABS Census 2021. Indian Australian family: Image Source: @CANVA
This census took place in August 2021, during the height of Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns. According to the census, more than a million new migrants have arrived in Australia since 2017; but about 80% of them arrived before the pandemic.
David Gruen, the Chief Statistician of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, told the media:
“The census was conducted at an unprecedented time in Australia’s history and provides a unique snapshot of the population during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is different from previous censuses.”
Australia has been fast emerging as a popular destination for skilled Indians, especially from IT and engineering backgrounds. Dr Michiel Baas, an anthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, points this surge to the long history of Indian migration as well as the result of Indian student migration to Australia. He says:
“This started picking up pace from 2004 onwards… and reached its zenith in 2009. The reason Australia became a popular destination for Indian students was the possibility to obtain a PR after graduation. This group has now matured and many have started families. Those who graduated around 2009 were in their early twenties and thus now in their mid-thirties.”
Rath Yatra (Amit Sarwal – Facebook)
Dr Yadu Singh, Secretary and spokesperson Federation of Indian Associations of NSW, says that the population data from the latest census once again shows that Australia continues to be an attractive place for migrants from India and South Asia. He adds:
“With increasing numbers of migrants from Hindu-majority nations like India and Nepal, it is not surprising to see the growth of migrants from the Hinduism faith (2.7% of the Australian population now, which is an increment of 55% in the last 5 years).
Dr Singh further emphasizes the need for “effective and collaborative community organizations representing and helping the social and cultural needs of various national groups.” He says:
“There is a need for a pan-South Asian organization to look after the political needs and aspirations of these communities. All of us from South Asian backgrounds can and should work together as our issues are indeed similar. It is imperative for the South Asian communities to evolve into a collaborative, loosely representative, and inclusive block in order to achieve our well-deserved and realistic representation in the politics of Australia.”
ABS Census 2021.
The second-largest increase in the country of birth was Nepal which is now the 11th most common nationality in Australia. Nepal saw an increase of 123.7% thus bringing the total Nepalese population to 122,506 in Australia.
Dr Hemant Ojha, Associate Professor, University of Canberra, says that South Asian migrants in Australia are becoming stronger with such great rates of growth. This is also creating new opportunities for “promoting shared culture and identity in Australia.” Given the positive increase in numbers, Dr Ojha suggests:
“South Asian diaspora groups in Australia can also interact more closely through the myriad of community organizations to advance their common identities as well as to create a new cultural group in their new homeland. South Asian diaspora can also reshape the cooperation between Australia and South Asian nations in the spheres of technology, trade, education, and development. To what extent these possibilities will be materialized will only be clear with the passage of time.”
This surge in migrants has also helped in increasing religious diversity in Australia. The ABS data also reveals that around 684,000 people in Australia, or 2.7 per cent of the population, identify with Hinduism. This is an increase of 55 per cent over the past five years, reflecting an influx of migrants from countries such as India and Nepal.
Indian Australian family: Image Source: @CANVA
The number of people who identify with Sikhism in Australia is 210,400 accounting for 0.8 per cent. Victoria has the highest number of Sikhs at 91,745. Further, around 813,000 people in Australia identify with Islam. Its share of the national population has grown to 3.2 per cent, up from 2.6 per cent in the 2016 census.
ABS reports that the proportion of people answering the census questions rose from 91 per cent in 2016 to 93 per cent in 2021. Data will continue to be released until mid-2023.
*Special administrative regions (SAR) of China which include Hong Kong and Macau.
That’s if you can even find such produce. Supermarket shelves for leafy greens are often bare.
This is a strong hint as to why prices have risen so much. As well as growers facing higher input costs – in line with pressures pushing up food prices globally – these price hikes are being driven by lack of supply – with crops and stores wiped out by rain and floods in eastern Australia.
The price hikes have led to calls for supermarkets to impose price caps to ensure shoppers can still afford to feed their families healthy food.
But price ceilings on goods or services rarely, if ever, work. Prices play an important role in allocating resources efficiently. They send a signal to both customers and suppliers. To arbitrarily reduce prices would only increase shortages – both now and in the longer term.
Source: Wikipedia
Supply, demand and market equilibrium
The laws of supply and demand are fundamental concepts in economics. The law of demand says buyers will demand less of an economic good the higher its price. The law of supply says sellers will supply more of a good the higher the price. There are some rare exceptions, but generally these laws describe all markets.
British economist Alfred Marshall was the first to illustrate the interaction of these two laws graphically, in his 1890 book Principles of Economics. Market equilibrium (balance) occurs at the price and quantity where demand equals supply.
If the quantity supplied falls, the market response is for prices to rise, achieving a new equilibrium. If the quantity supplied falls but prices remain the same, demand will outstrip supply, leading to shortages.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are particularly prone to significant price fluctuations because they are perishable and cannot be easily stored for a long time. This why seasonal price fluctuations are common.
Higher prices provide a signal both to consumers and producers. They tell consumers to buy less and switch to alternatives. They provide an incentive for producers to grow more – though this process is fairly slow given the time needed to grow and harvest fruit and vegetables.
But eventually, if the market is left to its own devices, prices will eventually return to “normal”, consistent with historical prices.
Capping the price, on the other hand, will benefit those lucky enough to grab supplies when they available. But it will likely reduce supply even further, by affecting the decision of producers unwilling to supply at below-market prices.
It could also lead to a “black market”, with some customers sourcing supplies by other means at higher uncapped prices.
Evidence from rent controls
The economic theory of price caps is well supported by empirical evidence. The best-known involve rent controls, which are used in US cities such as New York City and Los Angeles, and in European cities such as Stockholm, Berlin and Dublin.
Rent controls mean some are lucky enough to find an affordable apartment. Many others miss out – or engage in “deals” with landlords to get around the controls. The most disadvantaged tend to lose out most since landlords can discriminate in favour of what they consider the “more desirable” tenants.
As Stanford University economist Rebecca Diamond has written:
While rent control appears to help current tenants in the short run, in the long run it decreases affordability, fuels gentrification, and creates negative spillovers on the surrounding neighborhood.
As with housing, so too with broccoli and cabbage.
If there are suspicions of wholesalers or retailers exploiting shortages, this is best handled by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission. Though “price gouging” is generally not illegal, the consumer watchdog can prosecute companies for makes misleading claims about the reasons for price increases and for unconscionable conduct (in the case of extreme gouging for an essential good).
What else can be done? Only what consumers have always done, which is to substitute relatively cheaper goods for those becoming more expensive.
We’ve seen this before. Queensland’s floods in 2011 destroyed vast crops of bananas and watermelons, causing prices to skyrocket. Shoppers switched to other fruits. Banana farmers recovered. Prices dropped.
These high prices for lettuce and such now may be a shock, but they are not a sign of market failure requiring intervention. If we let the market do its thing, shortages will end and prices return to “normal” – at least until the next natural disaster.
This article has been republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors: Phil Lewis is Professor of Economics at the University of Canberra in Australia.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Australian 54-year-old multi-sport athlete Allan Jefferson from Queensland won the Solo Male (50-59)Race Across America (RAAM).
Allan, who is a rescue helicopter crewman, cycled 20 hours a day and finished the 4,889 km race in 10 days and 15 minutes.
Allan Jefferson (Facebook)
Surprisingly, India’s ultra-cyclist Kabir Rachure also achieved a podium finish at RAAM in the Solo Male (under-50) category. He finished the 4,889 km competition in 11 days, 11 hours and 25 minutes.
Kabir, who is from Maharashtra, is an advocate at the Bombay High Court and has now become the first Indian to do so in what is known as the world’s toughest cycle race.
Route of RAAM 2022 (RAAM)
RAAM has been running for four decades and covers terrain from desert to mountain ranges thus challenging the athletes.
12 days 3000 miles
Race Across America (RAAM) is considered one of the toughest ultra-distance road cycling race in the world!
Ultrahuman athlete Kabir Rachure didn't just finish the race in 11 days but also secured 3rd place in the solo category!
Technically, the race is about 30 per cent longer than the Tour de France and route of RAAM crosses 12 states from California to Maryland, while climbing 55,000 metres.
By Jacob Deem, Adrian Miller, A J Brown and Susan Bird
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his new government have committed to enshrining a First Nations Voice in the Australian Constitution. To do so, a majority of Australians in a majority of states will have to vote “yes” at a referendum.
But what are the other challenges along the way? Why might people support a Voice, or why might they be against it?
The survey measured attitudes towards the Voice from more than 1,500 respondents. Through quota sampling across participants’ location, age, education and voting preference, we were able to obtain a nationally representative sample.
Our survey found substantial support for a constitutional Voice (51.3%). Twice as many people supported the Voice as were against it (20.8%, with 27.9% undecided). But just as important are the reasons why participants said they were in favour, against or undecided.
Here are four key challenges that need to be addressed, our data suggests, on the journey towards a Voice.
1. Why have a First Nations Voice in Parliament?
As a first step, people must see a good reason to establish a Voice. The Uluru Statement from the Heart, which formalised calls for a constitutional Voice, is framed as a generous invitation toward reconciliation from First Nations Peoples. The sentiments in the Uluru Statement are reflected in many survey respondents’ support of the Voice. For example, one participant said:
“I believe that if Australia really wants to reconcile with the Indigenous community – that this is a very important step in that process.”
However, some people remain sceptical. While it seems most First Nations Peoples support a Voice, this view is not unanimous. Some First Nations scholars and respondents to our survey questioned whether supporting the Voice further legitimates the Constitution, a colonial document.
At the other end of the spectrum, 10% of respondents did not see the need for a Voice at all. Evidence of the disadvantages faced by First Nations Peoples under all existing political institutions continues to suggest otherwise. For example, the inability to “close the gap” is often attributed to the government’s failure to genuinely engage with Indigenous Australians. Nevertheless, the view that reform is not needed is one the Voice campaign will need to confront.
Advocates for the Voice will be encouraged by the substantial number of survey respondents who are already convinced that institutionalising an Indigenous advisory body is a positive step. Many respondents cited the value in constitutionally recognising First Nations Peoples, and viewed it as the “right thing to do”. Further, when supporters of the Voice were asked how important this issue was, one in three thought it should be a priority for the government.
2. The general public’s lack of knowledge
The Voice was proposed in the Uluru Statement in 2017, and calls for an Indigenous advisory body are even older. Despite this, public awareness remains a core issue.
More than half of respondents to the survey had never heard of the Voice before. Of the 27.9% of respondents who were unsure whether they would be in favour of or against a constitutional Voice, most cited a lack of knowledge as the reason.
Encouragingly, the responses also suggest there is an appetite to learn more. Some 19% of undecided participants said they wanted more information about the Voice, while 17.7% had specific questions, such as how representatives would be chosen, and what powers the body would have.
The Indigenous Flag: “It belongs to all Australians now”; Image Source: Supplied
3. The role of bipartisanship
While bipartisanship may not necessarily be essential to obtain a yes vote in a referendum, a proposal with the support of the major parties is far less likely to fail. So far we know Labor is committed to pursuing a constitutional Voice, although the Coalition’s position following its election loss is less clear.
One thing is clear from our survey: differences between the major parties’ positions do not reflect voters’ attitudes in a significant way. This is an important result, as it suggests the major parties should be able to find common ground in supporting the Voice. Senator Patrick Dodson’s appointment as Special Envoy for Reconciliation and the Implementation of the Uluru Statement is an important step, as Senator Dodson is highly regarded on both sides of politics.
4. Delivering a Voice with substance
Support for Indigenous constitutional recognition is clearly strongest if believed to be likely to deliver practical benefits as well as its symbolic value. Many survey respondents saw tangible outcomes such as improved healthcare and learning from Indigenous land management as reasons to support the Voice. When asked, 75% thought the Voice would improve the lives of First Nations Peoples. Therefore, the Voice many Australians want to enshrine is one that can make a practical difference in the lives of First Nations Peoples.
The new government’s commitment to the Uluru Statement is a hopeful sign for all those seeking constitutional change. While there is still a long journey ahead for the First Nations Voice, if these four challenges are met then a majority of Australians are clearly ready to engage in this important step in the reconciliation process.
This article has been republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons — Attribution/No derivatives license.
Contributing Authors: Jacob Deem IS Lecturer – Law at CQUniversity Australia. Adrian Miller is Deputy Vice-President Indigenous Engagement & Director of the Jawun Research Centre at CQUniversity Australia. A J Brown is Professor of Public Policy & Law, Centre for Governance & Public Policy at Griffith University. Susan Bird is Senior Lecturer in Law at Charles Darwin University.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Hindus at Sri Durga Temple; Image Source; The Australia Today
The first set of data from the 2021 census has been released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This census took place in August 2021, during the height of Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns. According to the census, more than a million new migrants have arrived in Australia since 2017; but about 80% of them arrived before the pandemic.
David Gruen, the Chief Statistician of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, told the media: “The census was conducted at an unprecedented time in Australia’s history and provides a unique snapshot of the population during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is different from previous censuses.”
Australia’s national population grew by about two million people to 25.4 million since the last census.
The data shows that just 44 per cent of Australians now identify as Christian, this is down from 52 per cent in 2016 and 61 per cent in 2011. When the first Australian census was conducted in 1911, 96 per cent listed Christianity as their religion.
Hindus at Sri Durga Temple; Image Source; The Australia Today
The ABS data also reveals that around 684,000 people in Australia, or 2.7 per cent of the population, identify with Hinduism. This is an increase of 55 per cent over the past five years, reflecting an influx of migrants from countries such as India and Nepal.
The number of people who identify with Sikhism in Australia is 210,400 accounting for 0.8 per cent. Victoria has the highest number of Sikhs at 91,745.
Further, around 813,000 people in Australia identify with Islam. Its share of the national population has grown to 3.2 per cent, up from 2.6 per cent in the 2016 census.
Interestingly, Australians identifying as “non-religious” has increased. 39 per cent of Australians now identify as “non-religious,” which is up from 30 per cent in 2016. The figures reflect an increase of more than 25% since census data was last collected in 2016.
Hindus at Sri Durga Temple; Image Source; The Australia Today
A growing number of Australians, 812,728 people, have identified as Indigenous – Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander – which is equal to 3.2% of the population.
ABS reports that the proportion of people answering the census questions rose from 91 per cent in 2016 to 93 per cent in 2021. Data will continue to be released until mid-2023.
Victoria Police have released CCTV footage of a gunman who was seen threatening a couple in the garage of an apartment building in Melbourne’s inner west last month.
CCTV footage shows a white station wagon driving into the underground car park of a residential complex in West Footscray at 8.50 pm on May 16.
A man wearing a red hoodie and jeans runs after the car and pulls out a handgun, pointing it at the vehicle.
The man threatened a 27-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman who were inside the car.
The driver managed to turn the car around and speed out of the car park.
The gunman gives chase but does not appear to fire the gun.
The investigators are trying to identify the gunman and have appealed to anyone who recognizes the man or has any information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or crimestoppersvic.com.au.
India’s Supreme Court, in a recent judgement, upheld the findings of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that had cleared Prime Minister Narendra Modi of any involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar upheld the SIT’s 2012 decision to give a clean chit to Modi and observed that Teesta Setalvad, co-petitioner in the case, exploited the emotions of Zakia Jafri.
The SC said in its order: “All those involved in such abuse of process need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with the law.”
It added:
“Antecedents of Teesta Setalvad need to be reckoned with and also because she has been vindictively persecuting this lis [dispute] for her ulterior design by exploiting the emotions and sentiments of Zakia Jafri, the real victim of the circumstances.”
After this observation from the Supreme Court of India, Teesta Stalvad was arrested by Indian police.
However, the Asia Director of Australia’s Human Rights Watch (HRW) Elaine Pearson joined the so-called global experts on India to express concern over the arrest of Setalvad.
Let's not kid around Elaine! When was the last time you spoke out for #Hindus? Ummm……never. What is the going rate for @HRW to stop raising human rights issues? Ken Roth would know, right? As a white privileged person you don't think you are above Indian courts. Do you? https://t.co/KcpymNdyC6pic.twitter.com/WwgAC9NqIb
— Stop Hindu Hate Advocacy Network (SHHAN) (@HinduHate) June 26, 2022
This has drawn sharp reactions from concerned netizens who schooled Australia’s HRW boss over her biased tweet overlooking the SC judgment.
Sarah Gates, a well-known Australian activist, pointed to HRW’s dwindling reputation and questioned political partiality.
Others also started throwing facts at Ms Pearson.
Image Source: TwitterImage Source: Twitter
Teesta Setalvad, who is a Mumbai-based journalist and a founding trustee and secretary of the NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), in her two-decade-long campaign, had given false information to the various courts and SIT in a bid to tarnish the image of Modi.
Image Source: Twitter
Based on an FIR by Darshansinh B. Barad, the Gujarat Police’s Crime Branch picked up Ms Stealvad from her Mumbai home under sections 468, 471, 194, 211, 218, and 120B of the IPC.
Image Source: Twitter
In 2009, 2012 and 2020, it was reported that HRW “accepted a sizable donation” from UAE which was “a potential violation of the rights group’s own fundraising guidance.”
HRW was forced to publish a statement on its website saying that accepting the funding was a “deeply regrettable decision”.
Blockade Australia said it was trying to raise awareness about climate change.
Australia will keep its operation churning through what is left. Australia will keep blocking climate action and repressing climate activists – the system was set up that way.
It was reported that around 100people marched through the Sydney CBD disrupting traffic.Sydney – blocakde Australia (Twitter)
A 22-year-old woman was arrested after locking herself to the steering wheel of a car and parking it across the entrance to the tunnel. This is one of only two ways to cross the harbour.
Under NSW legislation, illegal protests organised by “anarchist protesters”) which disrupt any public roads, rail lines, tunnels, bridges and industrial estates can now be fined $22,000 or jailed for two years, or both.
Indian Minister for Commerce Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food Public Distribution, and Textiles Piyush Goyal exchanges greetings with Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in New Delhi (ANI Photo)
After decades of conflict that has neutered its work, the World Trade Organization looks to be back in business.
Its highest decision-making body – a conference of ministers from the organisation’s 164 member nations – has just met for the first time since 2017.
None of what the ministerial conference (dubbed MC12 due to being the 12th such meeting) agreed on was particularly groundbreaking. But the fact there was agreement at all – on areas such as agriculture, fishing, intellectual property, e-commerce and food insecurity – was itself a milestone.
The question is what happens now, with considerable challenges ahead for the WTO and its role in promoting and protecting a global rules-based trading system.
Fighting for relevance
The WTO’s job is to be the forum for multilateral rule-making, to observe the implementation of these trade rules, and to settle disputes among members.
In most situations, decisions must be made by consensus. This means a single detractor can scuttle initiatives supported by the rest of the WTO’s membership.
This has proved particularly problematic for the WTO’s rule-making function, which has largely been comatose for two decades since negotiations on reducing trade barriers ground to a standstill at the ill-fated Doha Round launched in 2001.
Particularly damaging to the WTO has been the hostility of the US. Past administrations, especially the Trump administration, stymied the WTO’s dispute-settlement function by blocking the appointment and reappointment of judges to its appeal court (known as the Appellate Body). By 2019, there were not enough judges to hear appeals, leaving disputes in limbo.
The WTO has also been criticised for having few to no answers to the world’s most pressing issues: how to craft modern trade rules that support climate action and sustainability.
The rise of economic nationalism and unilateralism has increased trade friction making the WTO look increasingly irrelevant.
WTO 2022 (WTO)
Reaching agreement
Given this, the ministerial conference held in Geneva last week delivered welcome agreements on several sometimes long and strongly contested areas.
It agreed on limiting government subsidies for harmful fishing operations in an attempt to slow the depletion of rapidly declining fish stocks. This agreement will aid in curbing food insecurity and increase the sustainability of certain fish species.
Importantly, it is the first WTO treaty with environmental protection and sustainability as its objective.
Countries such as South Africa have been pushing for a waiver from provisions in the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights so they can produce cheaper generic versions of vaccines. The impact should be limited, given vaccine supply is now enough to meet demand, but the concession may serve as a blueprint for the future.
It agreed to extend the moratorium on customs duties on “electronic transmissions” first agreed to in 1988.
It also agreed on reforming the WTO dispute settlement process, committing members – including the US – to “conduct discussions” to arrive at a “fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all Members by 2024”.
Such soft language is a far cry from reinstating the Appellate Body. It was likely the only way to bring the US on board.
WTO 2022 (WTO)
But fundamental differences remain
The ministerial conference is only the first step. It will be difficult – and take time – for WTO members to reach a compromise on many important issues.
Compromise is needed between the policy space governments demand for themselves and effective international trade rules.
For example, the US and its allies have been pushing for tightening the rules on China’s state-owned enterprises and industrial subsidies. China has shown strong resistance to any new rules it views as being against its interests.
Another issue is support measures adopted during the pandemic. Some governments understandably adopted policies to support domestic businesses in a time of crisis. But some of these measures are arguably against the WTO’s rules to eliminate trade distortions.
These points are symbolic of the larger disagreements between WTO members, with economic nationalism and unilateralism presenting a fundamental challenge to the organisation’s reason for being.
Examples abound. There are US tariffs on steel and aluminium on national security grounds. China’s trade sanctions against Australia on products such as wine, coal, lobster, barley and beef. China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law and the European Union’s Anti-Coercion Instrument allow these governments to retaliate against any foreign actions they deem to be unfair.
A common feature of these instruments or actions is governments taking the law into their own hands, ignoring the WTO’s rule book and its dispute resolution mechanisms.
To overcome these existential challenges, the multilateral trading system will need strong and sustained commitment from member governments.
Contributing Authors:: Markus Wagner, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the UOW Transnational Law and Policy Centre, University of Wollongong and Weihuan Zhou, Associate Professor, Director of Research and member of Herbert Smith Freehills CIBEL Centre, Faculty of Law and Justice, UNSW Sydney, UNSW Sydney
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Meet the immensely popular Indian actor Sumedh Mudgalkar who has won your hearts playing the character of Bhagwan Krishna in the serial ‘Radha Krishna’ (airing on Star Bharat since October 2018).
Sumedh can now be seen as Darkie in the new web series ‘Escaype Live’ (streaming on Disney+Hotstar) created and directed by Siddharth Kumar Tewary under his One Life Studios banner.
In an Australian Exclusive Sumedh told The Australia Today’s Entertainment Editor Dr Amit Sarwal that he “wants to be a good actor and not just a hero.”
Catch this refreshing and candid interview with Sumedh.
Sumedh made his TV acting debut with Channel V in the serial ‘Dil Dosti Dance’. He is also known for his work in ‘Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat’ on Colours TV where he played the character of Shushim.
Sumedh is also a well known dancer. He took part in the Marathi dance reality show ‘Dance Maharashtra Dance’ in 2012 at the young age of 15. He was also 3rd runners up in ‘Dance India Dance’ season 4 in 2013.
Historian Lord Acton famously said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Hence the principle of checks and balances is applied in democracies to ensure good governance by preventing the concentration of power. But the counterbalancing of power among the executive, legislature and judicial branches of the government is creating gridlock in the United States, the oldest and the most powerful democracy in the world.
The Biden administration is unable to get an effective gun control law and an infrastructure bill passed or prevent Republican states to pass anti-abortion laws in spite of overwhelming public support and the need for such legislation.
Democracy in gridlock; Image Source: CANVA
India, the largest democracy in the world, appears to be heading for a similar fate. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unable to implement some of the key reform bills in spite of a comfortable majority in the parliament. Mr Modi, for all practical purposes, seems to have put the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in cold storage, which was designed to fast-track Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, after vociferous public protests.
In 2015, the Modi government was forced to roll back amendments to the Land Acquisition Bill to make the process of land acquisition simpler and faster for the industry. Then the long overdue farm reforms had to be withdrawn after long and protracted protests by the farmers. Widespread youth protests erupted against the proposed reforms in the recruitment process for the Armed Forces. Economic and labour reforms and privatisation had to be put into cold storage and adoption of a Uniform Civil Code is no longer on the plate for now.
Democracy in gridlock; Image Source: CANVA
In a parliamentary democracy like India, the balance of power between the legislative and executive is established by allowing the legislative oversight over the government through the process of vote of no-confidence and by granting the prime minister the right to dissolve the parliament. The judiciary applies checks and balances through the constitutional review of the law and its implementation. The three branches of government are expected to work in harmony.
The role of a well-functioning civil society can also be crucial in ensuring that democratic governments are responsive. What appears to be happening in India is that the legislative is almost abandoning its role of scrutinising the legislative process and the government through parliamentary debate and teaming up instead with the active elements of civil society to veto economic and social reform programmes.
Democracy in gridlock; Image Source: CANVA
The Modi government came to power in 2014 with a promise of job creation by cleaning up corruption and red tape and furthering economic reforms. But the legislative programme of the government soon ran into rough waters as the opposition got united to derail it staging incalcitrant protests in the parliament and on the streets. Most of the sessions were wasted on acrimonious sloganeering and walkouts on controversial non-legislative issues such as hate speech and phone tapping or executive orders such as demonetisation and abrogation of Article 370 that gave the special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The intensity and the language of protests became sharper and louder when the government rolled out its agenda of social reforms including the CAA, national digital identity and a national register of citizens. Since the opposition didn’t have the numbers in the parliament to stop the legislative programme of the government, it teamed up with pressure groups that launched protest campaigns to frustrate and derail them. Civil society protests against the CAA and farmers’ protests against farm reforms forced the government to shelve or roll back its programmes. Youth protests against the Agnipath scheme and short service recruitment to modernise and revitalise the Armed forces are the latest in the series.
Democracy in gridlock; Image Source: CANVA
The opposition looks at the protests as a rising of a civil society increasingly frustrated by an unresponsive government. Some observers like to see them as a sign of a vibrant democracy taking on an autocratic government. But is it so? Modi’s government has been elected by an overwhelming majority of people with a mandate to legislate and implement the policies promised in the manifesto.
Who has mandated the pressure groups of the civil society to impose their will and grind an elected government to a halt? Do they represent a majority of the people? Why bother electing a government if pressure groups are allowed to veto whatever it does? At least in the case of the US, it’s the partisan politics of the duly elected members of Congress who are causing gridlock. But in India, the gridlock is caused by the unelected pressure groups of the civil society which can’t be good for an accountable democracy.
In 1978, the Chinese leadership realised the country cannot progress without massive capital investment and technology. They agreed to own up that the Maoist model of development failed them completely and they will have to adopt the American and European models to grow faster and attract the all-important capital and technology from the US and Europe. India too had a similar realisation, though late, in 1991 and launched economic reforms. But there was never a consensus on giving up the Nehruvian socialist policies responsible for a tepid growth. This dichotomy of aspiring for massive investment and technology for rapid growth but keeping the socialist framework intact is one of the main causes behind the political gridlock.
Democracy in gridlock; Image Source: CANVA
Whenever a government tries to acquire land for industrial development, throw open the market for healthier competition, liberalise rules for foreign investment, privatise low-performing public sector companies and lower corporate tax to make India more attractive for investment, the opposition teams up with various pressure groups to launch protests that often get violent. India’s political spectrum needs to reach a consensus on economic policy if it seriously wants the country to realise its true potential. Gridlocking legislation through pressure group protests is not only undemocratic but also economically disastrous.
Contributing Author Shiv Kant is a senior media professional, editorial leader and strategist. He worked with the BBC for 24 years in a range of senior positions across multiple platforms including radio, TV and online. Mr Sharma is a Content Quality Consultant for Netflix and Language Consultant for the Cambridge University International Examinations. He is a regular columnist with several Indian publications. He has won a number of international awards including the Asian Broadcasting Union award and the Global Media Award. He is also on the roster of the UN Peacekeeping Mission for the position of the Chief of Radio. He specialises in Sanskrit, Indian culture and ecology.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Due to the impacts of COVID-19, international students in Victoria are temporarily eligible (up to 30 June 2022) to receive mentor services that can help them gain employment.
Under this scheme, a mentor will work with international student(s) and help them understand work goals, aspirations and pathways to achieve them. A mentor can support an international student:
apply for jobs
assist to develop resume and prepare for job interviews
support to become job ready
help enrol in training or obtain qualifications
assist with personal needs, including transport to attend interviews
provide support for six months after getting a job
connect with other community services.
International students in Victoria can register to talk to a Jobs Victoria Advocate online, or can speak to them in their local community spaces such as the local libraries and shopping centres throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria.
If you are an international student looking for work you can apply for jobs posted by employers in your local area by registering in the Jobs Victoria online hub. This is a free job search service and has both part time and casual roles available.
Internationals students must remember that due to workforce shortages in Australia, the federal government has temporarily relaxed student work visa limits for all sectors of the economy. This means that international students can currently work more than 40 hours a fortnight.
Each month international students, especially the newly arrived ones, can also meet with experts from employment agency Asuria, career development consultant CEAV and youth organisation City LLEN at The Couch International Student Centre which is located at 69 Bourke St Melbourne.
You can register for these two upcoming events via eventbrite:
On the year of the centenary birth anniversary of Gautam Adani’s father Shri Shantilal Adani, and Gautam Adani’s own 60th birthday, the Adani Family has committed a donation of Rs 60,000 crore (A$12 billion) to a range of social causes. This corpus will be administered by the Adani Foundation.
To utilize the potential of India’s demographic advantage, there is an ever-growing need to focus on the areas of healthcare, education, and skill development. The shortfalls in each of these areas are roadblocks for an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat.’
Gautam Adani at School; Image Source: Twitter
The Adani Foundation has gained rich experience in working with communities focused on integrated development efforts across all these areas. Addressing these challenges can significantly enhance the competence and competitiveness of future workforce.
“In addition to being the 100th birth anniversary of my inspiring father, this year also happens to be the year of my 60th birthday and therefore the family decided to contribute Rs. 60,000 crores towards charitable activities related to healthcare, education, and skill development, especially in the rural regions of our nation”. said Mr. Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group.
“This contribution from the Adani Family intends to draw upon some of the brightest minds that have a passion to make a difference in the Adani Foundation’s journey to do more towards fulfilling our ‘Growth with Goodness’ philosophy.”
“At a very fundamental level, programs related to all these three areas should be seen holistically and they collectively form the drivers to build an equitable and future-ready India. Our experience in large project planning and execution and the learnings from the work done by the Adani Foundation will help us uniquely accelerate these programs,” added Mr Adani
On our father’s 100thbirth anniversary & my 60thbirthday, Adani Family is gratified to commit Rs 60,000 cr in charity towards healthcare, edu & skill-dev across India. Contribution to help build an equitable, future-ready India. @AdaniFoundationpic.twitter.com/7elayv3Cvk
Azim Premji, Chairman of Azim Premji Foundation and Founder Chairman of Wipro Limited and widely recognized as one of the greatest philanthropists of our times said, “Gautam Adani and his family’s commitment towards philanthropy should set an example that we can all try to live Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of Trusteeship of Wealth at the peak of our business success and need not wait for our sunset years”.
He further added
“the challenges and possibilities of our country demand that we work together as one, cutting across all divides of wealth, region, religion, caste, and more. I wish Gautam Adani and his Foundation the very best in this important national endeavour”
Over the years, the Adani Foundation has responded to society’s changing needs in alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – be it sustainable livelihoods, health and nutrition, and education for all or addressing environmental concerns – with an enhanced focus on the empowerment of women, working with multiple stakeholders at the grassroots.
Today, it covers 3.7 million people in 2,409 villages across 16 states in India.
Panchayat’ aired on Amazon Prime, is one of the most popular Hindi web series. The first season aired in May 2020 and second season released in May 2022.
‘Panchayat’ depicts human feelings, relationships, showing reality of simple truths. ‘Panchayat’ depicts rural life beautifully, in spite of problems, facing small things of daily life with happiness and ease. ‘Panchayat’ stands apart from the rubbish content often being shown. All characters, all frames are indigenous, without any frills, the simplicity speaks volumes, having a nice fragrance of village life. ‘Panchayat’ shows a picture of India’s real village where the internet doesn’t reach properly and the funny part shows a CCTV camera being used to search a lost goat.
Eight episodes of ‘Panchayat-2’ are titled ‘Naach, Bolchaal Band, Kranti, Tension, Jaise ko taisa, Aukaat, Dost yaar and Parivar’, showing an astonishing end. Director ‘Deepak Kumar Mishra’s direction is superb. Screenplay writer ‘Chandan Kumar’ wrote the entire season so well. The dialogues are cheeky with many situations making the viewers tickle, like ‘The culture of the village is that food and drink should be done before the electricity goes off’ and ‘Loyalty doesn’t even make pickles nowadays’ are worth mentioning. Well composed songs can be heard separately.
The casting is perfect, all artists are fit for their roles, very real as if they haven’t acted. Jitendra Kumar as Panchayat secretary ‘Abhishek Tripathi’ has acted suitably for the country-like-character, proving himself a superb actor with calm yet sharp facial expressions. ‘Sanvika’ as ‘Rinki’ having few scenes and dialogues, leaves a nice impression, as the daughter of Panchayat head Manju Devi (Neena Gupta) and her husband Brijbhushan Dubey, (Raghubir Yadav) who are paired well with occasional amusing tussles between them. ‘Vikas’ (Chandan Roy) as Abhishek’s assistant and ‘Prahlad Pandey’ (Faisal Malik) as deputy head are amazing. Despite small space, few scenes, ‘Pankaj Jha’ as the local MLA, ‘Chandra Kishore Singh’ has registered his place, increasing heat in the story. The brick-kiln owner Parmeshwar (Srikanth Verma) indulges in politics for the sale of mud, excavated from the pond. Bhushan (Durgesh Kumar) addressed as ‘Banrakhas’ (demon of the forest) by the villagers and his wife Kranti Devi (Sunita Rajwar) both plan to contest the election of the village head, accordingly indulging in petty politics, adding a bit of temper to ‘Panchayat’. Ashok Pathak who plays ‘Binod’ (the villager waiting endlessly for his toliet to be built) has also delivered a stellar performance doing full justice to his character.
Panchayat (Publicity poster)
‘Panchayat’ season one’s last episode showed Abhishek and Rinki coming face to face for the first time. Season 2 starts with a conversation between Vikas and Prahlad, feeling that Abhishek and Rinki are having an affair. Abhishek and Rinki, whenever together, are shown with a feeling of hesitation. It gradually evolves to the manifest concern-care for each other. Considering it a state of love, the director has beautifully threaded and woven this unspeakable love skillfully.
Episode ‘Aukaat’ narrates the reality that Panchayat is established with the goal of decentralization of power. The MLA is the center of power and authority, for him the Secretary and Pradhan hold the status of two pennies. MLA is the perfect example, representative of the values of capital which has made manlessness a value of power. He repeatedly emphasizes his caste over his position, declaring with conceit that Panchayat authorities will explain to him, also proving that more than being MLA, his strength lies in being a Thakur. The village people and officers are scared of him. MLA using Manju Devi’s husband Brijbhushan rudely shows that he has turned him into a mere machinery for collecting votes for the MLA.
Abhishek inadvertently becomes prey to the dirty politics of MLA who gets furious, abusing, humiliating him. In the scene where MLA abuses Abhishek, it seems as if common people are abused by power. The MLA’s humiliating behavior hurts Abhishek, making the viewers start feeling humiliated too.
Panchayat (poster)
On the contrary, Abhishek holds human values, not letting them go even in the midst of most tense situations and annoyance, thus raising high faith in humanity. Be it an episode of a dancer girl, a drunk driver, searching for a goat, construction of toilet or inviting the MLA for Akhand Ramayan program, Abhishek’s humanity is displayed resulting in the viewers affectionately loving his character. Abhishek’s character is crafted well, Jitendra has acted effortlessly, strengthening the faith in human emotions, virtues in the midst of adverse times and circumstances.
The issues making the village drug-free and open defecation free are raised nicely. The issue of one km. road full of potholes and dust, connecting the village to the main road is handled well. Another story shows the invisible trap related to the illusion created by capital and youths entangled in it. After completing B.Tech, Abhishek is preparing for MBA and planning to leave the village soonest possible. Meanwhile he becomes Panchayat Secretary, earning 20,000 salary. Knowing this, a drunk driver sarcastically taunts Abhishek that after marriage, he’ll not be able to manage life in 20,000, resulting in getting drunk like him.
Panchayat-season-2; Panchayat (Screenshot)
In another episode, Abhishek’s America returned classmate Siddharth Gupta, working in Gurgaon on an annual package of 1.25 crores, visits Phulera village. Knowing this, Abhishek has a sense of insecurity which creates tension in the story, showing this trap as a reality and Abhishek as a symbol of stressed youth.
In the last episode, when Manju Devi doesn’t allow the MLA to enter the village, viewers feel a sense of relief and happiness. Such distance and gap between power and common people shows the hollowness, lack of democracy accepted in India.
The attitudes of simplicity, mediocrity, honesty, truthfulness, compassion, love, virtues and immense humanity against the items of capital, power, conceit, falsehood, hypocrisy, inequality and anti-human conduct, all these essence make ‘Panchayat’ a loved and popular web series, making the basic heart of the series coming to the fore. ‘Panchayat’ is a must watch for those interested in light-hearted stories executed well, other than stories soaked in crime-blood, sensation-mystery, thrill and sex. Viewers who have watched first season, will not be disappointed after watching the second season of ‘Panchayat.’
Contributing Author: Sushma ‘Shandilya’ is a well-known Hindi poet and writer based in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Her short stories, articles and plays have been published in leading Indian publications. Sushma ‘Shandilya’ writes on various contemporary issues including themes around women empowerment. She is also a yoga teacher.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Federal MP from Paramatt, Andrew Charlton meeting with the Indian-Australian business community in Sydney's Harris Park (File Image source: Indranil Halder)
By Indranil Halder
Hon. Andrew Charlton MP, the newly elected Labor MP from the Sydney suburb Parramatta, has said that he wants to make Harris Park (a precint in Parramatta) a vibrant tourist destination like no other in the Southern Hemisphere which will be like Little India in Singapore, Bricklane in London or Little India Village in Los Angeles.
Parramatta MP, Andrew Charlton meeting Indian-Australian businesspeople and speaking about ‘Little India’ (Video source: Indranil Halder)
Mr Charlton said this in a meeting organised by The Little India Harris Park Business Association Inc to discuss the development of Harris Park which included Donna Davis – Lord Mayor of Parramatta and Deputy Mayor Sameer Pandey. There were also talks of constructing an ‘India Gate’ in Sydney at this meeting.
Mr Sanjay Deshwal (President of Little India Harris Park Business Association) who organised this meeting along with Mr Nitin Setia (Ginger Indian Restaurant), requested collaboration between Council and the community for vibrant streets, events, support for local businesses, heritage conservation for residential areas and construction of a potential ‘India Gate’.
Image Source: Indranil Halder
The Parramatta Council and Mr Charlton expressed their vision to make ‘Little India’ a tourist precinct in the years to come and have already initiated this by consulting local businesses.
Image source: Indranil Halder
The meeting that was held at Momozz restaurant in Harris Park was also attended by Mr Abbas Ramsada who was recently mentioned by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a childhood friend.
Mr Abbas Ramsada (Image source: Indranil Halder)
Mr Charlton mentioned that it was time to work towards more commitments from the Government for the Indian community.
Mayor & Deputy Mayor of Parramatta also showed their eagerness to bring changes in Harris Park at the earliest.
Image Source: Indranil Halder
Mr Charlton welcomed suggestions from the community and mentioned that talk is going on between Australia and India for free trade, which is very good news for both countries. He said he hoped that the agreement would be the first part of a relationship that comes right to the centre of Australia’s economy in the next 20 years.
Mr Charlton also spoke about the importance of shifting the pivot to India for enhanced economic engagement. He mentioned about Labor government’s commitment to India as the future is in IT, digital and cyber technology.
The meeting was attended by businesspeople from the Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali communities.
Image Source: Indranil Halder
Contributing Author: Indranil Halder is Multicultural Ambassador for MHF (Mental Health Foundation) and ex Ambassador for FOMA (Fabrics of Multicultural Australia). He is also Brand Ambassador for Bollywood Car (Australia’s only vintage Indian style taxi), ex Ambassador for IABCA (India Australia Business and Community Alliance) and Social Media Influencer on Bengal Heritage, Lifestyle & Culture.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Victorian retiring Ministers; Image Source: The AUstralia Today
Four senior Victorian Labor government ministers have announced their retirement ahead of the November state election, prompting a cabinet reshuffle.
Deputy Premier James Merlino, Health Minister Martin Foley, Police Minister Lisa Neville and Sports Minister Martin Pakula issued a flurry of statements on Friday morning revealing their decisions not to recontest their seats and to step down from the cabinet.
“Renewal is critical for any government – fresh ideas and new energy,” Mr Merlino said.
Retiring Deputy Premier of Victoria James Merlino
“As hard as this is, I believe in my heart that renewal, new cabinet ministers around the table, is the best thing for the government and our state.”
Mr Foley took over from Jenny Mikakos as health minister following her resignation in September 2020, and his exit amid the COVID-19 pandemic means the party will appoint a fourth health minister in as many years.
Retiring Health Minister of Victoria Martin Foley
“The past two years have been a tough time for all Victorians,” Mr Foley said.
“Many of us have come to reflect on what we aspire to achieve. I am no different. I am looking forward to contributing to a better, fairer, sustainable Victoria in a different capacity.”
Mr Pakula’s lower house seat of Keysborough has been scrapped as part of an electoral redistribution, but he had been expected to move to the upper house.
Retiring Sports Minister of Victoria Martin Pakula
“Politics is an all-consuming endeavour. It’s a job which often demands an unhealthy measure of emotional and mental commitment,” Mr Pakula said.
“As politicians, we are notoriously bad at appreciating when considerations for our own well-being demand that we stop and find something else to do with our lives. I’d like to think I’m not one of them.”
Ms Neville took extended leave last year while battling severe Crohn’s disease flare-ups, and shed the emergency services portfolio when she returned to work in August.
She said her decision to retire was one of the hardest of her life and had been made in consultation with doctors.
Retiring Police Minister of Victoria Lisa Neville
“My recovery in 2021 allowed me to resume work in late 2021, but I know I cannot give another four years,” she said.
“I wish it were otherwise, but I must be honest with myself, the wonderful people I work with and the Bellarine community.”
Premier Daniel Andrews thanked the ministers for their service, as his government seeks to secure a third straight term in office.
Twenty-two Victorian Labor MPs were sworn into the cabinet after the party’s crushing election win in 2018.
As few as 10 will remain following the latest pre-election resignations, including Mr Andrews, Tim Pallas, Jacinta Allan, Jaclyn Symes, Ben Carroll, Lily D’Ambrosio, Gabrielle Williams, Melissa Horne, Jaala Pulford and Gayle Tierney.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy argued the exits were more a revolt than party renewal.
“The only true renewal we’ll see is at the November election when Daniel Andrews is defeated,” he told reporters.
Moiz Akash, a Perth Uber driver, was left temporarily blinded in one eye after a terrifying attack from a passenger.
WA Police told media that Akash, who is in his 20s, picked up a passenger from a residence on Clayton Street in Koongamia. Police said:
“The passenger entered the car in an aggressive manner, before assaulting the driver, resulting in facial injuries.”
The dashcam of Akash’s vehicle captured the horrifying assault that happened around 11 pm on Sunday.
Daschcam footage.
Akash who is now too afraid to drive Uber told 7 NEWS about the assault:
“He said I’m going to kill you tonight, you going to die tonight. And with that 10 seconds at that time when he choked my neck and I can’t breathe, I say okay… I think it’s done. At that time his finger gets into my mouth and I bite him, that’s why he removes his arm. I get out of the car, he runs behind me and saying ‘I’m gonna kill you tonight’.”
Akash believes that such an attack in this line of work was inevitable, however he feels lucky to have escaped this “horrible experience”.
Moiz Akash (7News screenshot)
After investigation, Midland Detectives charged a man over this incident that resulted in a number of facial injuries for Akash.
The 22-year-old was charged with one count of assault and another of impeding a person’s normal breathing or blood circulation. Midland Magistrates Court refused him bail.
Members of the Indian Australian community were left disturbed and upset to see the Australian Defence Force Marquee at the recently held Griffith Sikh Games where Khalistani banners, posters and flags were displayed.
Gurusharn Singh* who lives in Melbourne with his wife and two kids is one of them.
He booked accommodation two months earlier for the Griffith Sikh Games which returned after two years during the Queen’s Birthday long weekend (11-12 June 2022) at the Ted Scobie Oval in Griffith, a small town in New South Wales (NSW).
But within a few hours of attending the games venue, upset and frustrated Mr Singh returned back to Melbourne.
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
Gurusharn Singh told The Australia Today, “I was shocked seeing the Khalistani posters, banners and flags.”
“Do you understand what it does to people like me who have lost their loved ones to Khalistani terrorism,”
questioned Mr Singh.
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
He adds: “I went to the people who were managing the administration at Griffith games, and asked them it is upsetting for us to participate alongside hundreds of Khalistani flags and banners.”
“When nothing was done about removing these banners and hoardings, I left with my family because it was very traumatising to be around those horrifying memories,”
said Mr Singh.
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
Mr Singh told The Australia Today, “Most of my family has served in India in the uniform, and both my daughters are also preparing to join Australian Defence Force.”
“I was shocked to see an Australian Defence Force marquee and uniformed officers at the Griffith Sikh Games where Khalistani propaganda was spread on posters, banners, hoardings and on loudspeakers,”
said Mr Singh.
Doesn’t the Australian Defence Force understand the seriousness of such participation alongside Khalistani propagandists,” questioned Mr Singh.
A Defence spokesperson told The Australia Today:
“A small group of Australian Defence Force members attended the Sikh Games in Griffith, NSW, over the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend. Attendance was not in any official capacity and there was no formal invitation to Defence to participate.”
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
“The Australian Defence Force is an apolitical organisation and Defence members are expected to remain impartial. The Defence members had no prior awareness of other organisations attending this important community event which promotes traditional Indian culture and sport.”
Gurusharn Singh told The Australia Today, “I also didn’t have any prior information about the presence of Khalistani propagandists presence in the Griffith Sikh games, but I left after seeing what is not acceptable to me.”
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
“Why didn’t Australian Defence Force officers leave when they noticed the Khalistani banners, posters and hoardings,”
questioned Mr Singh.
On further inquiry, a Defence spokesperson added,
“The ADF personnel who attended the Sikh Games in Griffith did so with good intentions. The ADF personnel are proud of both their service and their culture and saw an opportunity to engage positively with the Sikh community.”
“They had no prior knowledge of other groups attending the event, including political or separatist movements. The attendance of ADF personnel at this event in no way endorses any other group or organisation who may have also been in attendance.”
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
The Australia Today would like to categorically state that we in no manner suggest that the ADF personnel who attended the Sikh Games in Griffith support or endorse in any way matters associated with the ‘Khalistan’ separatist movement.
Mahadevan Shankar is a Queensland-based Defence expert and committee member of The Current and Strategic Affairs Forum.
Mr Shankar told The Australia Today, “This is a serious issue for serving ADF personnel in uniform, having a stall with ADF merchandise, and being seen at the same place with the Khalistani separatist sympathisers movement.”
“It is common knowledge that the Khalistani separatist movement has been declared a militant & terrorist organisation by the Government of India, Canadian & other global institutions,”
said Mr Shankar.
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
Australian Defence Force spokesperson in a statement conceded that they have identified an internal process issue and are working to address it.
“While the attendance of the ADF personnel at this event was well-intentioned, it has identified some internal process issues around attendance at community events and a requirement for further awareness training, both of which are being addressed.”
Australia and India both are members of QUAD which is keen to enhance defence and security ties between both countries.
Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles was recently in India to boost ties between the defence industries of the two countries. While on his visit, Minister Marles observed in an op-ed for a local newspaper:
“Australia’s interests don’t just align with India’s, they are inextricably entwined. Expect this relationship to grow & prosper, our cooperation to deepen.”
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Defence Richard Marles (Twitter)
Mahadevan Shankar further added, “Important for ADF to disassociate itself urgently from such organisations, especially with new Defence Minister Richards Marles visiting India to strengthen Defence cooperation between both countries, against such terrorism and common global threats.”
Defence spokesperson further said,
“Defence regrets any distress that accidental associations might have caused the Indian diaspora in Australia.”
The Indian government has previously raised its concerns with Australia about the Khalistani militant groups active in recruiting Australian citizens for radical activities.
In a Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting on Counter-Terrorism, the Indian authorities informed their Australian counterparts that they should keep a close watch on certain social and religious organisations active in their country.
The Australia Today has contacted Griffith City Council which had provided permission for this event.
A council spokesperson said they were not aware that Khalistan posters were going to be put up at the venue. “No permission was sought, granted or denied” for putting Khalistani posters, banners, hoardings and flags.
Ironically Griffith City councillor Manjit Lally is one of the organisers of the Griffith Sikh games. The Australia Today has reached out to Mr Lally. He has not yet responded.
The Australia Today has also reached out to the main organisers of Griffith Sikh games 2022, Griffith Singh Sabha Society, they had also not responded till the time of the publication of this report.
In case we receive any response we will update the story.
Khalistan Terrorism Background:
India was rocked by Khalistan terrorism through the 1980s. Thousands of Hindus and Sikhs were killed in the Indian state of Punjab by terrorists who were allegedly supported by Pakistan’s intelligence agency the ISI.
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
The Khalistani terrorists wanted a separate state for the Sikhs carved out only from Indian Punjab leaving no one in doubt about who was pulling the strings (the posters in the event also show the same).
When India was partitioned based on the communal agenda of leaders like Mohammed Ali Jinnah who believed that Muslims can’t live with Hindus, Punjab was partitioned too. Given the communal nature of the new state carved out of India, not just the Hindus but all other minorities in these areas suffered a huge blow.
Before the partition of India, it is estimated that over 2 million Sikhs lived in what is now the territory of Pakistan, especially in Pakistan’s Punjab region. Today that figure ranges between 10,000 to 50,000 approximately around 0.01% of Pakistan’s population. On the other hand, in India during this time the Sikh population has grown from an estimated 700,000 to over 20 million. Sikhs are involved in every sphere of activity in India with two of the past ten Army Chiefs in India belonging to the Sikh faith.
The birthplace of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Devji, is located in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan. The Pakistani city of Lahore was the capital of the Sikh King Ranjit Singh (popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or the ‘Lion of Punjab’) who ruled in the early half of the 19th century. Given the near ethnic cleansing of the Sikhs from Pakistan in spite of the rich Sikh history of the region, the agenda of the Khalistani separatists is a matter of grave concern for Sikhs in India and around the world.
Griffith Sikh Games 2022; Image Source: Facebook
While Khalistan terrorism was brought to an end by India within its territory almost thirty years ago, some groups of Khalistani separatists and their supporters have remained active in some western countries allegedly with support from Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.
Given the asymmetry between India and Pakistan in terms of defence capabilities, Pakistan has had a doctrine of bleed India by a thousand cuts. The doctrine involves using non-state actors like terrorists against India as it cannot win against India in a conventional war. Terrorism emanating from Pakistan is not only responsible for terror attacks in India but has its footprints in many other terror attacks around the world. The world’s most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden was found in a Pakistani Army cantonment.
In one of the deadliest terror attacks in aviation history before 9/11, 329 people were killed by Khalistani terrorists on Air India flight 182 which was flying from Montreal to Mumbai via London and New Delhi on this very day 37 years ago.
Newspaper clippings related to the bombing of Air India flight 182: Supplied
The terrorists planted a bomb on the flight which blew up mid-air while flying from Montreal to London killing everyone on board. Among those killed were 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens and 24 Indian citizens.
Newspaper clippings related to the bombing of Air India flight 182 (Twitter)
Terry Milewski, a well-known Canadian journalist, was the senior correspondent for CBC News at the time of the Air India bombing and has dedicated significant time to researching Khalistan terror links with ISI. On the 37th anniversary of the terror attack Mr Milewski tweeted:
37 years now since the Air India bombing – yet still, fans of the bomber openly revere him as a martyred hero and spew mad, long-debunked theories claiming a) he didn't do it or, b) it's OK, he was a freedom fighter. Don't let these lies go unchallenged. https://t.co/u8p2x6dnpe
In the foreword to a report authored by Mr Milewski, titled “Khalistan: A Project of Pakistan”, Ujjal Dossanjh, former British Columbia Premier, and Shuvaloy Majumdar, MLI Program Director, observed that “It should be essential reading for any who wish to understand Pakistan’s influence in guiding the Khalistan proposition, its perversion of the Sikh faith, and its ongoing campaign of extremism and terrorism in two of the world’s important democracies.”
Mr Dossanjh, who is a Sikh himself, was attacked and viciously beaten for his opposition to the Khalistani extremism in 1985 in the parking lot of his office in Vancouver, Canada. He was targeted again in 1999, while he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in Canada when his constituency office was attacked. Mr Dossanjh tweeted in 2018: “Indian Sikhs have a country: They call it India. Punjab has been India for untold centuries until it was cut into two to make Pakistan.”
The question really is what will the security and intelligence establishment in Australia choose to do given the seriousness of this issue not just for its strategic ally India but also for security considerations at home.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has secured a total of $204,000 in penalties in court against a Brisbane fast food business.
The Fair Work Ombudsman began its investigation after receiving a request for assistance from a Nepalese visa holder. The person was employed as a casual kitchen hand at the commercial kitchen from April 2018 to August 2019.
As per the report, the court fined Riddhi Siddhi Pty Ltd, which operates the ‘Vege Rama’ fast food outlet, after the business used false records to try to frustrate an ongoing Fair Work investigation.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court imposed a $185,000 penalty against Riddhi Siddhi Pty Ltd and an associated commercial kitchen in Fortitude Valley.
The Court further imposed an additional $19,000 penalty against company director Ruchika Sharma.
Judge Salvatore Vasta found that Riddhi Siddhi and Ms Sharma had falsified records to make it appear the Nepalese worker had been paid Award rates. They knowingly provided these records to the Fair Work in “an attempt to obfuscate the truth and to ensure that any proper investigation was never able to be pursued”. Judge Vasta added:
“The severity and seriousness of what (Riddhi Siddhi and Ms Sharma) have done cannot be overstated. This was a deception that went to the heart of the fair industrial and employment system of this country.”
Fair Work notes that the penalties have been imposed in response to Riddhi Siddhi breaching the Fair Work Act. The Brisbane operator made false records and handed them to Fair Work Inspectors during the investigation.
Further, Riddhi Siddhi also breached the Fair Work Act by giving false or misleading payslips to an employee and failing to comply with a Compliance Notice requiring the company to back-pay the worker, who worked up to 66 hours per week and was paid $11 to $13 an hour.
It was only after the Fair Work Ombudsman’s commencement of legal action that the Brisbane fast-food operator back-paid the worker $59,400, plus interest and superannuation.
Fair Work said in its statement that Ms Sharma was involved in the provision of the false records to Fair Work Inspectors and the failure to comply with the Compliance Notice.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said employers who use false records to try to frustrate an investigation into underpayment allegations will face serious consequences.
“Falsifying records and providing them to the Fair Work Ombudsman is extremely serious conduct and it will be met with the strongest possible enforcement action.”
Ms Parker further adds:
“Employers also need to be aware that taking action to protect vulnerable workers, including visa holders, and improve compliance in the fast food, restaurant and café sector continue to be priorities for the FWO. Any employees with concerns about their pay or entitlements should contact us for free advice and assistance.”
Judge Vasta said in his statement that “the need for the Court [is] to impose a deterrent penalty.”
“The Courts will simply not tolerate such brazen contraventions of the intentions of the Commonwealth Parliament.”
Further, Judge Vasta described the conduct of the Brisbane fast-food operator as “extremely difficult to detect”. he said:
“If it were not for the employee having the sense to take photographs of each of the time sheets, if it were not for the employee going to work via public transport and using a go card, and if it were not for the employee having a Google phone that was able to GPS-track his movements for over six months, the scheme, or device, used by (Riddhi Siddhi and Ms Sharma) would never have unravelled as it has now.”
The Fair Work Ombudsman has an agreement with the Department of Home Affairs. This is called the Assurance Protocol and under this valid visa holders can ask for FWO’s help without fear of their visa being cancelled for breaches of their work-related visa conditions.
India's Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Defence Richard Marles (Twitter)
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Defence Richard Marles held a bilateral meeting in New Delhi on June 22, 2022.
The two ministers reviewed the existing defence cooperation activities between the two nations which have been increasing despite challenges of COVID-19 pandemic and discussed ways to enhance further cooperation.
India’s Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Defence Richard Marles (Twitter)
Further, the Ministers reviewed the defence and security pillars of the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Mr Singh tweeted: “Had excellent deliberations with Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Mr. Richard Marles in New Delhi today. We reviewed the full range of defence & strategic cooperation between both the countries and paved way for deepening it further.”
In a media statement, the defence ministers reaffirmed their commitment towards implementation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership based on mutual trust and understanding, common interests and shared values, of democracy and rule of law.
Both ministers welcomed “the growing diversity and frequency of defence exercises and exchanges between the two countries and undertook to build upon operational engagements through the India-Australia Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement.”
Mr Marles in an op-ed published in the Indian Express said:
“Australia’s interests don’t just align with India’s, they are inextricably entwined. Expect this relationship to grow & prosper, our cooperation to deepen.”
Defence ministers have also committed to the India-Australia Joint Working Group (JWG) on Defence Research and Materiel Cooperation which is a crucial mechanism for boosting ties between defence industries.
Rajnath Singh (Twitter)
The Ministers discussed opportunities for industrial cooperation between India and Australia to increase the resilience of supply chains and deliver capabilities to their respective defence forces. Both sides agreed to explore means to grow connections and opportunities between Indian and Australian defence industrial bases.
Both Ministers welcomed the plan to commence the landmark General Rawat Young Officer Exchange Programme in the latter half of 2022, which was announced during the virtual summit meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two countries on March 21, 2022.
Richard Marles (Twitter)
Mr Marles visited Goa to see India’s indigenous drone development and autonomous vehicle technology.
The two ministers reviewed strategic challenges and the regional security situation and reaffirmed their shared objective of an open, free, inclusive, prosperous and rules-based Indo Pacific region.
Dr Ashutosh Misra, CEO of Institute for Australia India Engagement (Twitter)
Dr Ashutosh Misra, CEO of Institute for Australia India Engagement, observed:
“The best thing about our a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is that our strategic and bilateral interests are mutually complementary and cannot be seen in isolation. Progress in one drives the other too.”
Mr Marles looked forward to India’s participation in the Indo Pacific Endeavour exercise in October 2022 organised by Australia.
The Defence Minister of Australia also visited the National War Memorial and paid homage to the war heroes by laying a wreath at the monument.
Mr Marles is on an official visit to India from June 20-23, 2022.
Anthony Albanese, Leader of Labor Party; Image Source: Supplied
Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese has announced his recommendation to the Governor-General for the appointment of four new secretaries of Australian Public Service departments. Albanese said in a statement:
“I congratulate Mr Betts, Ms Adams, Ms James and Ms Wilkinson on their appointments. The appointment of Secretary of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources will be made shortly. Acting Secretaries will be appointed by Ministers as required.”
As per the released statement, Jim Betts will be appointed as Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. Mr Betts has extensive experience in the New South Wales and Victorian public services, including as Secretary of the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Secretary of the Victorian Department of Transport, and CEO of Infrastructure NSW. He will bring to the Federal level a deep understanding of the priority challenges facing Governments in this space. Mr Betts’ appointment will commence on 11 July 2022.
Jan Adams AO PSM will be appointed as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Ms Adams is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is currently Australia’s Ambassador to Japan. She has previously served as Ambassador to China, as a senior trade negotiator and as Ambassador for Climate Change. Ms Adams will commence her appointment on 1 July 2022.
Natalie James will be appointed as Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Ms James has an extensive career in public service and employment and workplace relations. From 2005 until 2010, she was Chief Counsel to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, becoming a State Manager of that Department in 2010. In 2013, she was appointed the Fair Work Ombudsman for the Commonwealth. Recently, Ms James has been a Partner at Deloitte Australia. Ms James will commence her appointment on 11 July 2022.
Jenny Wilkinson PSM will be appointed as Secretary of the Department of Finance. Ms Wilkinson, currently Deputy Secretary at Treasury, has held positions across several departments and agencies. This includes running the Parliamentary Budget Office, from July 2017 to January 2020. Prior to that, she held senior positions at Treasury, the Department of Industry, the Department of Climate Change, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Reserve Bank of Australia. Working in these roles, she has provided advice on a wide range of economic policy issues. She was awarded a PSM in 2021 for outstanding public service in the development of fiscal policy. Ms Wilkinson will take up her appointment on 9 August 2022, on Rosemary Huxtable’s retirement.
Additionally, David Fredericks PSM will be leaving his role as Secretary of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, to lead the newly created Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Mr Fredericks has extensive senior experience engaging on policy and Budget within the APS and ministers’ offices. As well as Secretary experience in both the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, and the Department of Environment and Energy, he has experience at the Deputy Secretary level at the Attorney-General’s Department and the Department of Finance. He has held senior Ministerial Adviser roles at both the Commonwealth and state levels. Prior to that he served in the Solomon Islands’ Ministry of Treasury and Finance.
Each of these appointments will be for five years.
Dr Gordon de Brouwer PSM will return to the Australian Public Service as Secretary for Public Sector Reform. Working to the Minister for the Public Service and in close partnership with Peter Woolcott AO, the Australian Public Service Commissioner, he will lead and implement a wide range of public sector reforms which will support my commitment to place greater value on the public service and to grow its capability.
Simon Atkinson and Kathryn Campbell AO CSC will conclude their Secretary roles with effect from 1 July 2022. I thank them both for their service to the Australian Public Service over many years. They have both brought great professionalism and deep experience to the range of roles they have held, and I wish them both the best. Ms Campbell will be taking up a senior appointment in the Defence portfolio in an AUKUS-related role.
APS Departments and Secretaries as at 1 July 2022
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Prof Glyn Davis AC
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Mr Andrew Metcalfe AO
Attorney-General’s Department
Ms Katherine Jones PSM
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Mr David Fredericks PSM
Department of Defence
Mr Greg Moriarty
Department of Education
Dr Michele Bruniges AM
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
Ms Natalie James [from 11 July 2022]
Department of Finance
Ms Jenny Wilkinson PSM [from 9 Aug 2022]
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Ms Jan Adams AO PSM
Department of Health and Aged Care
Prof Brendan Murphy AC
Department of Home Affairs
Mr Michael Pezzullo AO
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts
Aditya Khurana crowned 'Man of the WORLD 2022 - Image Source Facebook
22-year-old Aditya Khurana from India has won the 4th Edition of the ‘Man of the World’ pageant held at Baguio Convention Center in Baguio City, Philippines.
He bested over 20 other contestants to win the title and during the question and answer phase, Aditya was asked to respond to a quote by Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai.
Jason Wood, Liberal MP for Berwick, with members of the Ahamadiyya mosque (Facebook).
Baitul Salam Mosque in Melbourne’s Langwarrin was allegedly vandalised over the weekend. Police have charged eight men for the alleged attack on the Mosque.
The police have said in a statement that so far there are no indications that the alleged attack was religiously motivated. According to the police, the alleged attack took place around 1:50 am on Sunday as intruders broke into the Mosque damaging property and riding bicycles through the prayer room.
Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs Jason Wood visited the Mosque after the attack to check the vandalism and damage caused. He said in his Facebook post:
“After repeated attacks on the mosque, I call on anyone who has further information on the offences to contact Victoria Police. So far, 8 people have been arrested and charged with involvement in the attack.”
Ahmadiyyas are an Islamic sect with an estimated population of between 6000-8000 in Australia.
Local community leader Aziz Bhatti told the Herald Sun that the community is in shock and afraid. He mentioned that many Ahmadiyyas arrived in Australia as refugees after Pakistan declared Ahmadiyyas to be illegitimate Muslims and the community is no stranger to persecution. He added that they felt safe in Australia but this attack has sent a shockwave.
Baitul Salam Mosque in Melbourne’s Langwarrin (CCTV footage)
The Mosque’s CCTV footage shows the alleged attackers (a group of 12 men) entering the Mosque.
The eight men – one aged 62, two aged 18 and five aged 19 – who have been charged by the Frankston Crime Investigation Unit are set to appear before a magistrates court on 28th October.
Victoria's Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes: Image Source: The Australia Today
Victoria has become the first Australian state or territory to ban the public display of the Nazi symbol. This step has been taken in recognition of its role in inciting antisemitism and hate.
The Summary Offences Amendment (Nazi Symbol Prohibition) Bill 2022 which has been passed makes it a criminal offence for a person to intentionally display the Nazi symbol (the Hakenkreuz, often referred to as the Nazi swastika) in public.
The legislation will come into effect in six months to allow for time to implement this awareness campaign.
The ban will be supported by a community education campaign to raise awareness of the origins of the religious and cultural swastika, its importance to the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain communities and its distinction from the Nazi symbol.
Hindu Swastika; Picture Source: @CANVA
Victorian Hindu, Jain and Buddhist communities are concerned that reducing the education campaigns time from twelve months to six months will potentially leave them in a vulnerable position.
Makrand Bhagwat, Victorian President of the Hindu Council of Australia told The Australia Today, “It will be very challenging to educate politicians from council to parliament, 21,399 strong victoria police department, media, educators and academicians who will be the first to be targeted by education campaign.”
“Imagine just after the six months, someone complains to the Victoria police about ‘Swastika’ on a shop or home’s front door drawn on Diwali. Unknowingly police officers can treat us like criminals,”
added Mr Bhagwat
In a statement Victoria’s Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said:
“The Nazi symbol glorifies one of the most hateful ideologies in history – its public display does nothing but cause further pain and division.”
Ms Symes tweeted:
Victoria has now become the first in Aus to ban the public display of the Nazi symbol, recognising its role in inciting antisemitism & hate.
It’s a proud moment to see these important laws pass – it sends the strongest possible message that this vile behaviour wont be tolerated
“IT’S A PROUD MOMENT TO SEE THESE IMPORTANT LAWS PASS WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT – I’M GLAD TO SEE THAT NO MATTER WHAT SIDE OF POLITICS, WE CAN AGREE THAT THIS VILE BEHAVIOUR WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN VICTORIA.”
Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes (Twitter)
This landmark passing sends a clear message that the dissemination of Nazi and Neo-nazi ideology through the public display of the Nazi symbol has no place in Victoria.
Victoria’s Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs Craig Ondarchie in a parliamentary debate said, “People use the term ‘swastika’. I want to correct that for the record to make sure we are talking about the right thing.”
“I am talking about the Nazi hate symbol, the Hakenkreuz, often referred to, which is a symbol with a cross with the arms bent at right angles in a clockwise direction or a symbol that so nearly resembles it that it is likely to be confused or mistaken for that symbol. This bill only applies to the Nazi swastika or the Hakenkreuz.”
Victoria’s Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs Craig Ondarchie; Source: FACEBOOK
“I say that because there are a number of elements in our community where this could be confused. I think carefully about our Hindu community, our Buddhist community and our Jain community, who use a form of this symbol that people may confuse about, and I want to get that right,” added Mr Ondarchie.
The Bill recognises the cultural and historical significance of the swastika for the Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and other faith communities as an ancient and sacred symbol of peace and good fortune.
‘The Bill does not prohibit the display of the swastika in such religious and cultural contexts.’
Minister for Multicultural Affairs Ros Spence (Twitter)
The Victorian government undertook extensive consultation with religious, legal and community groups on the offence, including understanding the religious use of the Swastika and ensuring exceptions are in place for appropriate displays of the Nazi symbol, such as for educational or artistic purposes.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of speaking in favour of new laws to ban the hateful display of Nazi symbols across Victoria – the first of their kind anywhere in Australia.
The Victorian Government has assured that it will continue to monitor the use of hate symbols and may consider the inclusion of additional symbols at a later stage. Minister for Multicultural Affairs Ros Spence said:
“These laws are part of our unwavering commitment to challenge antisemitism, hatred and racism wherever and whenever they occur.”
Anyone who intentionally displays the Nazi symbol in public will face penalties of up to almost $22,000, 12 months imprisonment or both.
Former Indian-Australian cricket captain Lisa Sthalekar has become the first woman president of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA).
The FICA said in a statement:
“Lisa Sthalekar has been confirmed as FICA’s President at the FICA Executive Committee meeting held in Nyon, Switzerland this week.”
The Executive Committee meeting was held ahead of the FICA and World Players’ Association Player Development Conferences and was the first in-person meeting of the group since the COVID-19 pandemic.
FICA is pleased to announce Lisa Sthalekar as its new President
Sthalekar told media that she is looks forward to working on behalf of our member players’ associations and players. She added:
“We are entering a new phase of the game which covers more cricket than ever before for our male and female players. More countries are playing the game which demonstrates that cricket is certainly becoming a global game.”
Sthalekar made her cricket debut as a hard-hitting batter in 2003. She played a key role in Australia’s victory during the 2010 T20 World Cup final against New Zealand. She represented Australia in 187 international matches and retired from the game after Australia’s win in the 2013 ODI World Cup held in Mumbai.
GREAT NEWS!
The former Australia captain Lisa Sthalekar was confirmed for the role at the FICA Executive Committee meeting held in Nyon, Switzerland.
Sthalekar was the first femaler cricketer to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets in ODI cricket. She still remains among the top 10 wicket-takers in 50-overs cricket.
I'm delighted that we've appointed Lisa Sthalekar @sthalekar93 as our new President. She was clearly the best candidate for the job and is going to do a great job representing @FICA_Players and our members as the game continues to grow and evolve. https://t.co/8DvQDpkBzN
“Lisa was clearly the best candidate and her credentials are unparalleled as both a former player and broadcaster. Her previous roles as an independent director of FICA and on the board of the Australian Cricketers’ Association demonstrate her long standing commitment to the players’ association movement and advancing player rights.”
42-year-old Sthalekar will take up a position that has previously been held by former stalwarts such as South African batter Barry Richards, former West Indies all-rounder Jimmy Adams, and England batter Vikram Solanki.
Sajida Tasneem, Murdered by Father in law: Image Source: Supplied
Australian Sajida Tasneem has allegedly been hacked to death with an axe by her father-in-law in the Pakistani city of Sargoda. According to local media, Ms Tasneem wanted to bring her children back home to Australia which led to an argument following which her father-in-law allegedly killed her.
Sajida Tasneem was allegedly gagged and killed in front of her own father on 11th June. The alleged murder took place at a home she shared with her in-laws.
The BBC Urdu reported that Ms Tasneem’s husband, Ayub Ahmad, had pressurised Ms Tasneem to leave their home in Perth and move to Pakistan with their three children.
Australian media is reporting that according to a Pakistani police report, Ms Tasneem was arguing with her father-in-law who had confiscated the family’s passports after hearing of her intention to relocate back to Australia.
Ms Tasneem’s husband was reportedly working as an engineer in Bahrain at the time.
Ms Tasneem’s father Sher Muhammad Khan sharing his grief with BBC Urdu said that Ms Tasneem wanted her children to get higher education in Australia and not see the deprivations of life that are with them.
Never forget the name Sajida Tasneem – an Australian citizen murdered two days ago in Pakistan after years of horrific domestic abuse – inflicted by her husband and her in-laws. Forced to go back to Pakistan under threat she wanted to return to Australia and was murdered by
Police in Pakistan’s Punjab have confirmed that one person had been arrested and charged with Ms Tasneem’s murder.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has offered their condolences and consular assistance is being provided to the family.
In one of her final Facebook posts, as reported by the news.com.au, Ms Tasneem wrote about women being killed by their “brothers, father or husband”.
“God knows how long this law of horror and ignorance will continue here, not the jungle,”
she wrote.
SHE MATTERS: SAJIDA TASNEEM!
June 14, 2022: This is Sajida Tasneem – an engineer, a mum of three children and an Australian. On Monday, Sajida was murdered in Pakistan by her father-in-law. pic.twitter.com/F6bcicKulL
— Sherele Moody (Femicide Researcher) (@ShereleMoody) June 15, 2022
“Why is it that a woman is killed every time in the name of honour?”
Victoria Police seeing assistance; Image Source: Victoria Police
Mernda Sexual Offence and Child Abuse Investigation Team detectives are seeking assistance from the public following three incidents at parks in Mill Park and Lalor in April and June.
Investigators have been told a woman was walking alone on a football oval at Lalor Reserve when she observed an unknown man expose himself and perform a lewd act on 15 April around 12.50 pm.
Two other women have come forward to police to report similar incidents at WA Smith Reserve in Lalor around 10.50 am on 7 June, and at Sycamore Reserve in Mill Park around 3.50 pm on 13 June.
The man is described as being of South-Asian appearance, approximately 160cm tall, with a solid build and a dark-coloured beard.
Investigators believe the three incidents are linked and have released a computer-generated image of a man who may be able to assist with their enquiries.
Anyone with information that could assist police is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, the Hon Richard Marles MP, has reached India to participate in his first bilateral Defence Ministers’ Meeting. He tweeted a photo of himself performing early morning yoga: “In early morning start with some yoga, ahead of a busy couple of days here in India.”
An early morning start with some yoga, ahead of a busy couple of days here in India.
Deputy Prime Minister Marles said in a statement that he is looking forward to meet with India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh:
“Australia and India are Comprehensive Strategic Partners. I am committed to strengthening Australia’s defence and security cooperation with India. Minister Singh has been instrumental in advancing India-Australia defence ties and I look forward to working with him to enhance the defence pillar of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.”
The Deputy Prime Minister further said India is one of Australia’s closest security partners and Labor government is focused on revitalising Australia’s historically deep engagement. Deputy Prime Minister Marles added:
“Australia stands ready to work closer with India in support of an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific”.
During his visit from 20-23 June 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Marles will also meet India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar. This meeting is expected to discuss national security and defence policymakers.
Arrived in India – a top-tier partner + close friend to Australia.
I look forward to advancing our ongoing defence engagement as Comprehensive Strategic Partners and reiterate our commitment for closer cooperation in the #IndoPacific. pic.twitter.com/68bxyCkxyf
An online post on social media by a western yoga teacher was postulating how yoga was not religious and could be practised by anyone from any faith whilst adhering to their religion without fear of conversion.
Does practising yoga make one a Hindu? As a yoga teacher who teaches westerners, I come across this oft-asked query to which I have a counter-question.
Do they think of Hinduism, as a religion, and Hindus as a class of people practising a set discipline? My reply is based upon their response to this question.
If Hinduism is a religion, Yoga cannot be divested from it just because people from ‘other’ religions want to practice and reap the benefits of this time-tested ancient technique without getting out of the comfort zone of their belief system. They have to understand that Yoga is part of a great spiritual philosophy, now known as Hinduism. It is a culmination of rigorous self-study, imposed austerities, and deep reflection on the nature of the self and is based on a solid foundation of a sustained practice of thousands of years.
Many who are called Hindus today believe the ‘ism’ and the term Hindu were imposed upon them by the Greek, Mughal and Colonial marauders to put them in a box they could comprehend, as comprehending the diversity of this land was impossible for their small limited minds.
The present-day Hindus themselves believe their roots are deep in the Sanatana Dharma philosophy, an eternal way of life that evolved/is evolving, is alive and is the result of extensive study, introspection and realisation of the nature of humankind and their relation to the divine, with many paths and movements branching out from this study, of which Yoga is one. There was never felt the need to give this a limiting label of an ism. This system accepts even atheism as a philosophy and they are free to adopt, refute and challenge the belief systems of scholars.
This is proof of an enlightened spiritual tradition not an excuse for marketing Yoga as not a religion and giving examples of atheists practising yoga to draw in students.
Therefore, to understand that Yoga is not a religion you have to yourself be realised that extent. But to frivolously mouth yoga is not a religion and that one can continue being a Christian or Muslim or Jew while practising Yoga is insulting the universality of yoga and extension, the religion now called Hinduism of which it is a part.
So yes, if you think Hinduism is a religion then Yoga is Hindu. But if you have broken the shackles of religion, in all its limitations, then not only yoga but all the paths that have come out of this deep reflective philosophy are not a religion but an invitation to explore and realise.
“The pilgrim, the path and the goal become one – LOVE,” says Yogiraj Siddhanath a realised Kriya Master, a foremost example of how versatile and evolving Sanatana Dharma is.
Author: Jyoti Subramanianis a Kriyacharya who has been teaching the practices of the Siddhanath Yoga Parampara since 1999.
This article was first published on www.esamskriti.com/. We have republished it with kind permission.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The Australia Today is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts, or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of The Australia Today and The Australia Today News does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
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