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Tag Australian Independent News Sites

Crime is Falling, Why is Imprisonment Rising?

By Nicholas Cowdery with Pearls and Irritations The Australian prison population has doubled since 2000 and recidivism is at 55%. Yet almost all categories of crime have fallen in the past decade. Why do we spend $3.6 billion a year… Continue Reading →

Surveillance Capitalism

By Donnell Holloway I recently purchased a bedroom bundle (mattress, bed base, pillows and sheets) from a well-known Australian startup for my son, who has flown the nest. Now I’m swamped with Google and Facebook ads for beds and bedding…. Continue Reading →

Chilling, Miserable, Dystopian and Sinister: Politicians and Health Bureaucrats

By Paul Collits We now inhabit a strange world where politicians and health bureaucrats, working in tandem, run just about every element of our lives.  This weird new system has replaced democracy as we once knew it, and it may… Continue Reading →

Victorian Government Faces Court Over Lockdowns

By Sonia Hickey from The Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog The Victorian State Government is facing a number of court battles over the curfew and lockdowns imposed during stage four public health restrictions. A cafe owner has commenced civil proceedings against… Continue Reading →

The Victorian Government Is Causing Harm: Doctors Call Out Covid Insanity

From The Australian Covid Medical Network. Below is their full statement, issued this week. It has become increasingly clear that the response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus by the Victorian  government is now doing more harm than good, and will cause… Continue Reading →

Kate Bush Joins Glittering Line-up of Songwriting Talent

By Adrian York, University of Westminster Kate Bush, the grand dame of British pop, has just been awarded a prestigious fellowship of the Ivors Academy, the UK’s independent professional association for music creators. It’s an appropriate honour – Bush is… Continue Reading →

“It Should Put all Australians on Notice”: Andrew Wilkie on the Unjust Assange Extradition Trial

By Paul Gregoire. Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog. The judge presiding over Julian Assange’s extradition case, Judge Vanessa Baraitser, indicated last week that she wouldn’t be making a decision on whether the Australian journalist and publisher will be sent to the United States,… Continue Reading →

On the 50th Anniversary of her Death, Janis Joplin Still Ignites

Leigh Carriage, Southern Cross University Janis Joplin died 50 years ago this Sunday, aged just 27, but her songs reach beyond time. Her enduring influence and popularity can be attributed to her raw, unadulterated, fearless performances. We respond to vocalists… Continue Reading →

Ridiculing Anti Vaxxers Backfires

With TOTT News One thing is for sure: If vaccination against the most over-hyped disease in history, Covid-19, becomes compulsory in Australia, an already distrusted government will find itself in a well of pain. TOTT News, which has been running… Continue Reading →

King of Lemons: Australia Swindled by Lockheed Martin and its Joint Strike Fighter

By Brian Toohey with Michael West Media The Joint Strike Fighter has been plagued by problems since it was just a sketch on paper, when in 2002 John Howard jumped the gun and committed to buying them. But the F-35… Continue Reading →

Escalation in Policing Is a Sign of What’s to Come in a Time of Austerity

By Paul Gregoire. Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog. Friday 25 September 2020 saw the Morrison government begin cutting back JobSeeker unemployment benefits. The increased rate provided to the escalating numbers of unemployed during the pandemic period is being reduced, as treasurer Josh Frydenberg… Continue Reading →

Was Sweden Right and Australia Wrong?

By Paul Collits A number of Australians have asked: Why should we follow Sweden’s approach to lockdown, when Sweden’s death rate per million of population is worse than ours?  Here is why we should have. This is an article I… Continue Reading →

Falun Gong in Australia

By Augusto Zimmerman Well known commentator and Professor of Law at the Sheridan Institute of Higher Education Augusto Zimmerman recently addressed a Falun Gong rally held outside Western Australia’s Parliament House. He says the persecution of Falun Gong is part of the anti-religious campaign… Continue Reading →

India’s COVID-19 Experience

By Professor Ramesh Thakur On 15 September, India had over 5.1 million COVID-19 infections, behind only the United States; and 83,000 deaths, behind the United States and Brazil. The country recorded a mortality rate of 60 deaths per million, compared to… Continue Reading →

Australia’s War of Shame: Afghanistan

By William De Maria with Pearls and Irritations When Australian soldiers lifted their boots off Afghani ground for the last time in December 2013 the Koh-e Paghman mountains outside Kabul moaned for a nation broken once again by invasion. Up… Continue Reading →

Australia’s Stinging Trees

By Irina Vetter, Edward Kalani Gilding and Thomas Durek, The University of Queensland Australia is home to some of the world’s most dangerous wildlife. Anyone who spends time outdoors in eastern Australia is wise to keep an eye out for… Continue Reading →

Concerns Over Surveillance Units in Melbourne

With TOTT News Mobile surveillance units are being used in parks and public spaces across Melbourne to remotely monitor citizens during stage four restrictions, fueling privacy concerns. The technology is the latest step in Melbourne’s ongoing shift towards a techno-fascist… Continue Reading →

Gas Gush: The Toadies of Mainstream Media Trot Out Government’s Fossil Fuel Campaign

By Michael West, founder of Michael West Media Gas fracking and a new fossil fuel power plant got a big leg-up today as News Corp, Nine Entertainment, ABC News and Guardian Australia faithfully splashed with the latest government gas plan… Continue Reading →

Secrecy Covers Up Abuse of Power and Poor Performance by Australia’s Security Services

By Jack Waterford with Pearls and Irritations One would have to go back to the 1970s to find the nation so ill-served. All the more so as politicians have politicised national security, and reverted to 1960s games of gathering and… Continue Reading →

Is Lockdown Worth the Pain? No, it’s a Sledgehammer

By Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford Melbourne’s lockdown has been described as one of the harshest in the world. And jurisdictions outside Australia have taken other measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 once case numbers have eased. So, in… Continue Reading →

Ten Killer Covid Facts

By Paul Collits Politicians are said to love “killer facts”.  And to want to “follow the science”.  Sadly, those running our Covid policy responses seem not to want to do either. An old boss of mine, an estimable Director General… Continue Reading →

Tone deaf: Aged Care Providers’ PR Campaign Strikes Wrong Note

By Dr Sarah Russell with Michael West Media Hiring properly qualified staff, staff-resident ratios and a commitment to be transparent and accountable for the $13 billion in annual taxpayer funding would help private providers of aged care “change the conversation”… Continue Reading →

COVID Fail: The Debacle of Australia’s National Broadband Network Could Cost Lives

By Laurie Patton A rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases being reported in Victoria and New South Wales. China re-instating restrictions as it sees infections return. Our chief medical officer says his greatest fear is a second wave, and there’s the likelihood the coronavirus will linger… Continue Reading →

The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself – the Overreach of Australian Anti-Terror Laws

By Allan Behm with Michael West Media Instead of crafting policies to tackle causes rather than symptoms, Australian leaders have used terror laws to turn social and national problems into security issues that demand a military response. Allan Behm investigates. In 1933,… Continue Reading →

What Covid Plan? Australia’s Economy is Changing for Good

By Michael West, founder of Michael West Media Paul Keating seized on a huge jump in productivity in this week’s horrific GDP release but the effect of the pandemic will profoundly change the structure of Australia’s economy for good. Michael West reports…. Continue Reading →

The Optics of an Aussie Police State

By Paul Collits Victoria’s police are very concerned about “optics”.  Like all corporate institutions these days.  Well, it hasn’t been a good week for Australia’s police state. A clever marketing person – no, not that one; he isn’t that clever… Continue Reading →

TikTok & WeChat: Curating and Controlling Global Information Flows

By Fergus Ryan, Audrey Fritz and Daria Impiombato While most major international social media networks remain banned from the Chinese market in the People’s Republic of China, Chinese social media companies are expanding overseas and building up large global audiences…. Continue Reading →

The Economy is Still Booming for the Rich Despite the Pandemic

By Alan Austin with Independent Australia These times are financially stressful for many Australians, but not everyone. Alan Austin examines indicators showing the sectors still dining out. AUSTRALIA’S TREASURER Josh Frydenberg conceded glumly to the Canberra press club last month that “this is a difficult… Continue Reading →

Elon Musk Unveils Brain-Computer Implants in Pigs

By TOTT News Elon Musk’s controversial ‘brain chip’ might be coming sooner than first thought, with the technology entrepreneur revealing new advancements in a demonstration this weekend. Just when you thought the year 2020 couldn’t get much weirder, the billionaire… Continue Reading →

Protests Have Been Criminalised in Victoria under COVID. What is Incitement?

By Maria O’Sullivan, Monash University The Victorian government is taking a hard line against protests as it tries to get COVID-19 under control. As Premier Daniel Andrews said on Thursday, it’s not the time to protest […] regardless of what… Continue Reading →

Australia’s Move Towards Authoritarianism Under the Guise of Public Health

By Sonia Hickey and Ugur Nedim In times of uncertainty, people place enormous trust in leaders. And right now, many Australians have placed unwavering faith in the state, territory and federal governments to make sensible decisions to fight the coronavirus… Continue Reading →

COVID Era Over-Policing Is Our New Normal

By Paul Gregoire Using COVID-19 as an excuse, we’ve witnessed repeated instances of over-policing, with heavy-handed tactics repeatedly making headlines. “What we have seen in the last six months, in particular, is a ramping up of police hostility towards peaceful… Continue Reading →

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