cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/22774303

The state is grappling with the legacy of a surgeon who allegedly mutilated an Aboriginal man's remains.

Council elections may not the be most exciting but don't be like me a few years ago and forget they're on until after all the polling booths close...

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Several big battery projects in Australia vital for storing renewable energy to meet the nation’s climate goals are highly likely to be using materials sourced through the forced labour of Uyghur and other Turkic ethnic groups in China, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) research has found.

ASPI has examined the supply chains for big battery projects across various Australian states and found that, even when the batteries are sourced from US-based companies, critical components are still obtained from Chinese suppliers. These suppliers carry well-documented risks of involvement in human rights abuses.

Australia needs big batteries because its renewable energy plans require storage for intermittent sources such as wind, solar and hydro. That’s why state and territory governments are pouring billions of dollars into battery energy storage systems (BESS), also known as big batteries.

However, most of the global battery supply is controlled by companies based in the People’s Republic of China and is dependent on raw materials mined and processed in Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region (XUAR). Two of the largest companies that supply batteries and lithium cells for batteries—Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) and EVE—are used in Australian projects in spite of having been reported to be implicated in grave human rights violations, notably forced labour of Uyghur and other Turkic ethnic groups in the manufacturing and processing of raw materials. In a damning 2022 report, the United Nations stated that such violations might constitute crimes against humanity.

The motion, introduced by Andrew Wallace MP in the lower house of the Australian parliament called out China’s systematic cultural assimilation of Tibetans. It affirmed the Tibetan people’s rights to freely choose their economic, social, cultural, and religious policies without external interference. It highlighted the right of religious communities to select their own leaders, including the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama, without Chinese government intervention.

While moving the motion, Representative Wallace stated, “The Chinese Communist Party is not content with simply trying to wipe out the culture of Tibet and Tibetans; they also want to remove their religious background. The CCP wants to control who will become the successor to the Dalai Lama. Australia’s parliament stood in solidarity, united by the convention that we cannot remain silent in the face of evil.”

Susan Templeman MP, Co-Chair of Parliament Friendship of Tibet, seconded the motion, urging Chinese authorities to release the Panchen Lama and reiterating Australia’s stance against interference in selecting the next Dalai Lama. Dr Daniel Mulino- MP and Hon. Dr David Gillespie- MP also spoke in support, highlighting the forced assimilation of Tibetan children and suppression of religious and cultural practices in Tibet.

[...]

In response to these concerns, the Australian Parliament called on China to re-engage with representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama to establish genuine autonomy for Tibetans within China, repeal discriminatory legislation, end arbitrary detention and family separation programs, remove restrictions on Tibetan culture and language, and allow access to Tibet for independent human rights observers.

The motion also referenced recent international developments, including United Nations reports on the assimilation of Tibetan children through residential schools, the European Union’s resolution on the forced abduction of Tibetan children in December 2023, Canada’s resolution supporting Tibet and the United States ‘Promoting a Resolution to Tibet-China Act’ passed in June 2024. The motion reaffirmed Australia’s concern over China’s assimilationist policies, which include forced labour programs, the coerced separation of Tibetan children from their families, detention for peaceful political expression, and the suppression of religious practices.

An insightful article.

It found about 70 per cent of existing homes have building quality problems, while more than two-thirds of homes have an energy rating of three stars or lower.

Australia really just doesn't have the policy instruments or policies in place that one might expect for building performance and housing quality and condition," Dr Daniel said.

So all of these homes were almost effectively reducing their useful life, because it's almost as soon as they're built, they're not up to what we might consider a standard that's fit for purpose," she said.

"In the future, we can imagine that people living in those homes are going to be much more exposed to fluctuations in energy prices because they're over-reliant on heating and cooling.

What a cluster fuck

In short:

Surfers say they feared they were about to "witness something pretty horrible" as the door from a plane fell towards South Broulee Beach last week.

The door landed in coastal scrub 20 metres from a fisherman, with the pilot telling airport staff its "latch was not secured properly".

What's next?

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau says it will not conduct an investigation as it would be "unlikely to yield any new safety lessons".

Highly relevant to us (as admins)

The Australian government should develop a clear policy on identifying and addressing cases of wrongful detention of Australian nationals abroad, Human Rights Watch said in a recent submission to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Reference Committee. The Committee is currently reviewing the Australian government’s responses to the wrongful detention of Australian citizens overseas.

Oppressive foreign governments have detained Australians on fabricated or unsubstantiated charges, denied them due process rights, and used them as political bargaining chips. Governments have held Australians in poor conditions, with limited access to visits from lawyers, family and friends, and limited consular representation. When the detainees are released, it is often after significant public campaigning and high-level Australian government intervention in their cases.

[...]

"Experience from other countries has shown that when there is a single specialized senior official managing all aspects of hostage diplomacy cases, affected individuals and their families benefit,” [Daniela] Gavshon, [Australia director at Human Rights Watch] said. “Australia should promptly create a role like this for wrongful detention cases so the government can address the special circumstances of each case and allow families to get the support they desperately need.”

Earlier this year, the Australia's eSafety commissioner took X to court over its refusal to remove videos of a religiously motivated Sydney church stabbing for its global users.

The case was ultimately dropped, but commissioner Julie Inman Grant says she received an "avalanche of online abuse" after Mr Musk called her the "censorship commissar" in a post to his 196 million followers.

[...]

A Columbia University report into technology-facilitated gender-based violence - which used Ms Inman Grant as a case study - found that she had been mentioned in almost 74,000 posts on X ahead of the court proceedings, despite being a relatively unknown figure online beforehand.

According to the analysis, the majority of the messages were either negative, hateful or threatening in some way. Dehumanising slurs and gendered language were also frequently noted, with users calling Ms Inman Grant names such as "left-wing Barbie", or "captain tampon".

[...]

Ms Inman Grant said that Mr Musk's decision to use "disinformation" to suggest that she was "trying to globally censor the internet" had amounted to a "dog whistle from a very powerful tech billionaire who owns his own megaphone".

She said that the torrent of online vitriol which followed had prompted Australian police to warn her against travelling to the US, and that the names of her children and other family members had been released across the internet.

[...]

The case turned into a test of Australia's ability to enforce its online rules against social media giants operating in multiple jurisdictions – one which failed after a Federal Court judge found that banning the posts from appearing on X globally would not be “reasonable” as it would likely be "ignored or disparaged by other countries".

In June, Ms Inman Grant's office said it would not pursue the case further, and that it would focus on other pending litigation against the platform.

X's Global Government Affairs team described the outcome as a win for "freedom of speech".

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Japan vowed to bolster military ties with Australia during a high-ranking visit on Sept 5, with Tokyo’s top diplomat saying the “like-minded” partners must stick together to combat shared regional threats.

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defence Minister Minoru Kihara met their Australian counterparts at an old army fort outside Melbourne, striking deals on greater air force cooperation and expanded military exercises.

They also agreed to jointly help the Philippine Coast Guard, which is locked in an escalating tussle with Chinese ships in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.