Australia

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3069921

Universities Australia - a body representing 39 universities in Australia - has called on the federal government to join Horizon Europe in a bid to strengthen the nation’s economic resilience and global competitiveness through enhanced international research collaboration.

Horizon Europe, a major European Union research and innovation program, offers substantial funding for global partnerships focused on tackling complex global challenges. Association with the program would have provided Australian researchers access to this multi-billion-dollar fund and enabled closer scientific cooperation with international peers.

Universities Australia Chief Executive Luke Sheehy said joining Horizon Europe would have sparked a cycle of innovation, strengthened partnerships, and driven economic growth.

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“If we’re serious about building a prosperous and productive economy, then we need a seat at the table—especially in a shifting and increasingly complex global environment,” he said.

Mr Sheehy warned that rising geopolitical tensions risked disrupting existing research alliances, and that Australia needed to act to maintain its competitive edge.

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The results of a landmark longitudinal study into domestic violence paint a grim picture, but they also point to key solutions, especially before men offend.

This video covers:

• Why the NSN nazi org typically resort to cowardly flash-mobbing at 3:30am when no-one is around
• What they aim to achieve through flash mobs, and in their own words, the effect they want to have in media
• How the way we share news of these events can promote their group (increasing its funding and its ability to form a legal political party)
• Exclusive footage of those nazis getting beaten up

Since this is an important topic, especially for social media users, please share this video to other communities!

(I was late to watch and share so that Anti-Racism Action event mentioned at the very end has already happened.)

Not sure how widely this little drama is known outside of Tassie. But this farce just keeps getting more ridiculous.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3009371

Australian and European Union trade negotiators will spend two days thrashing out the details of a potential new agreement after a breakthrough meeting between Australia’s Trade Minister Don Farrell and his EU counterpart [Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič] in Paris.

The trade talks collapsed in 2023 over the EU’s refusal to allow more Australian beef into the single market.

But as a result of US President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on the EU and Australia, and most recently increasing duties on steel to 50 per cent, both sides want to see if they can try again.

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“Both sides reviewed shared objectives for a strong and reformed rules-based trading system and took stock of EU-Australia FTA negotiations,” the Commission spokesman said after the meeting that lasted one hour.

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Technical teams will now compare notes on outstanding issues.

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The European Australian Business Council [a non-profit, member-based organisation that promotes trade and investment between Europe and Australia] estimates that as Australia’s third largest trading partner after China and Japan, a trade deal with the EU could deliver between up to $7.4 billion dollars extra to Australia’s GDP by 2030.

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More than a dozen organisations representing different sectors of Australia urged the political leaders to take the deal across the line.

They include the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Australian Industry Group, Australian Services Roundtable, Business Council of Australia, Export Council of Australia, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, the Group of Eight, Medicines Australia, Minerals Council of Australia, Property Council of Australia, Super Members Council, and Tourism and Transport Forum.

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The Australian Federal Court has been rocked by a major new case, as Beef Weelington has filed a defamation suit against Death Cap Mushrooms claiming the later has permanently damaged their reputation.

The plaintiff alleges their reputation has been tarnished, with the addition of the death caps leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths.

“The case of B. Wellington vs. D.C. Mushroom is a textbook ‘He-said, Beef-said’ story,” said one federal court justice. [...]

Australia's defence minister Richard Marles has called on China to explain why it needs to have "such an extraordinary military build-up".

He said Beijing needs to provide greater transparency and reassurance as it is the "fundamental issue" for the region.

Meanwhile, the Philippines defence minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr has called China "absolutely irresponsible and reckless" in its actions in the South China Sea.

The ministers had separately addressed reporters on the sidelines of an Asian defence summit held in Singapore.

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First of all, sorry if this really isn't the right spot for this but I figured that maybe some Aussies in here recognise it.

I've had this stuffed frilled-neck lizard since roughly 2006 when a family member brought it back from Australia for me, I know for sure that my brother had a stuffed dinosaur with a similar design on it. According to the tag it was hand made in Australia by "Kurrajong Aboriginal Products". A quick search brought me to a company with the same name that sells child education books and hand made dolls, so the connection is kinda there but I can't be sure; they don't sell stuffed animals (anymore). I'd really like to know if anyone has seen these or even has one.

Here's some pictures I took of it.

When I was in Australia myself a while ago I searched for similar things but couldn't find anything. Even the museum shops I went to only seemed to sell generic Chinese-made stuff, which really is a shame but anyway...

Archived

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Cheng, now 49, spent more than three years cut off from the outside world in detention in Beijing, subjected to horrific mental torture after falling foul of the Communist Party.

Her crime? Discussing a government press release with a fellow journalist several minutes ahead of a supposed embargo.

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Why China went after the respected broadcaster, who was the face of the country’s CGTN news channel and anchor of its most popular program, is still a mystery.

But her arrest and imprisonment coincided with a deep erosion of diplomatic and trade relations between Beijing and Canberra, leading many to conclude she was a pawn in a merciless political game.

Almost five years on, she still bears the deep scars of her barbaric treatment.

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In August 2020, Cheng was greeted at work by some 20 officials from the secretive Ministry of State Security.

“I am informing you on behalf of the Beijing State Security Bureau that you are being investigated for supplying state secrets to foreign organisations,” one told her.

A few months earlier, Cheng had received a press release about the Premier’s Work Report, the main document to come out of the Communist Party’s largest political gathering of the year.

She was sitting in a make-up chair, getting ready to go on air, and texted a colleague a brief summary of the highlights – eight million jobs target, no GDP growth target – to help them get a headstart on a story.

“And that was my crime, that I eroded the Chinese state authority, even though there wasn’t an embargo [on the report],” Cheng recalled.

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Much later, in court, another colleague who she barely knew testified against her – likely under coercion – and claimed she’d told Cheng there was in fact a strict embargo.

“That is bogus,” she said.

“If I had known it was a classified document embargoed before 7.30, why would I send it to my friend, and then keep the document, keep the texts?”

Cheng was taken from her office to her apartment and watched on as spies ransacked it, looking for evidence that didn’t exist.

Then she was blindfolded, bundled into a blacked-out SUV and whisked to an RSDL facility, or Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location.

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For months, she was interrogated relentlessly as the Ministry of State Security tried to justify its trumped-up charges.

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Cheng was monitored every other moment of the day, including when using the toilet and while sleeping.

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After six months, she was pressured to confess to the manufactured charges or face a more severe punishment at the end of a trial.

Reluctantly, she did, knowing her fate was inevitable. No-one is found innocent in China’s justice system.

“I worked out what ages my kids would be by the time I got out,” she recalled. “It was horrible. But had I not pleaded guilty, my sentence would have been a lot longer and my treatment would have been a lot worse.

“What is the point of a defence lawyer? There’s only the state. The state is the only thing that matters.

“And at least in jail, I could see a bit of the sky.”

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Australian Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher was blocked from entering Cheng Lei’s closed-door trial.

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In all, Cheng spent three years in detention before eventually being freed in October 2023 after a long-running public campaign tirelessly fought by her peers and friends, and the diplomatic efforts of the Australian Government.

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When she left the detention centre, she was taken to a halfway house and for the first time years, she was able to enjoy what she describes as being a host of “luxuries” like a mirror, a sit-down toilet, and a string to hang her washing on.

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Some things will never be normal, though, like the high likelihood Chinese spies based here in Australia are monitoring her.

“I assume there is some monitoring, but I have a very fearless attitude. I was there, they could do [those things] to me, they can’t do that to me here.

“And I think if we live in fear and self-censor and always check ourselves, just in case China gets the s***s again, then what’s the point of freedom? We may as well be living in China.”

Archive.

Each year, the NFSA curates a selection of recordings that capture the spirit and memory of life in Australia – a sonic record of the people, moments and culture that shape us.

From beloved songs and political speeches to advertising jingles, podcasts, radio moments and the sounds of nature, any Australian recording over 10 years old is eligible for nomination.

These sounds help preserve our national story – past, present and future.

Nominations close 30 June.

Submit your pick

An early release of findings from an Australian study published in medRxiv this week showed the incidence of bowel cancer is up to three times higher among Australians born in the 1990s compared with the 1950s cohort.

Bowel cancer is now the leading cause of death in people aged 25 to 44 in Australia.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2969071

Archived version

The European Union says it is seeking a defense partnership with Australia, as the bloc looks to forge a united international response to the Ukraine war and other global crises.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pointed to similar security agreements the bloc had inked with South Korea and Japan late last year.

“We see you as a strategic partner,” she said during talks on Sunday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Rome, where world leaders gathered following Pope Leo’s inaugural mass, according to a video she posted to social media.

“And we would very much like to broaden this strategic partnership.”

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For his part, Albanese said Australia and the European Union continued to “stand together with the people of Ukraine.”

“We have common values as well, which in today’s uncertain world… is so important.”

The European Union has been racing to build new security ties as it confronts fears the United States may walk away from the continent under President Donald Trump.

In recent months, the bloc has courted India while signing defense agreements with South Korea and Japan — nations that lie far from its usual sphere of defense interests.

Archived version

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted he wants the Port of Darwin returned to Australian ownership, as an American private equity firm makes a play to buy the strategically significant asset from its Chinese owners.

Both Labor and the Coalition announced during the election campaign that they would move to strip Chinese firm Landbridge of its controversial 99-year lease of the port, which sits directly opposite Darwin’s Larrakeyah Defence Precinct.

The prospect of a forced divestiture has angered Beijing, which feels Chinese companies are being unfairly singled out for punishment over national security concerns.

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Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy struck a similar tone to Albanese’s when asked whether the government would support US ownership of the port.

“We’ve been very clear that we want to see the port back in Australian hands,” he said.

“We’re going through the process now of looking through all the options, but our commitment is, at the end of the process, the Port of Darwin will be in Australian hands.”

The Australian Financial Review reported that Australian freight company Toll had partnered with [U.S. investor] Cerberus on the bid in a move that could help ease concerns about foreign ownership of the port, even by a trusted ally such as the US.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has detailed extensive connections between Landbridge [the Chinese company that runs the port on a lease contract], the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, raising concerns about the national security implications of the leasing agreement from both Coalition and Labor MPs.

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