#mp for brisbane

[leaves-lilies-and-esther]

Teaching primary school children about sexual abuse may help them to tell an adult if they have been abused themselves, according to the results of comprehensive new research. Using data from 24 separate trials involving almost 6,000 children around the world, researchers found that pupils who are taught at school about preventing sexual abuse through games, books and songs are more likely than others to report their own experiences of abuse.

The findings, which were published on Thursday, show that among children who did not receive any teaching about sexual abuse, four in 1,000 disclosed some form of sex abuse. Among those who were taught about it at school, the figure went up to 14 per 1,000.

Children who receive teaching on the subject also seem better equipped to deal with potentially dangerous situations, with those who participated in the education programmes more likely than other children to try to protect themselves in a simulated abuse scenario in which they were asked to leave school with a stranger.

Whether such school-based programmes actually reduce the incidence of abuse is still unclear, however, and the review’s authors have called for more research to build on their findings.

The report concludes: “Even if successful in only a small proportion of situations, given the prevalence of child sexual abuse, it is possible that the skills and knowledge learned in prevention programmes may be of assistance to a considerable number of children.”

The quality and availability of sex education in England’s schools has been under scrutiny in recent months, with a report by MPs on Westminster’s education committee calling for it to be mandatory to help safeguard young people from abuse. As this study shows, however, in certain countries primary-age children are already taught how to recognise, react to and report abuse situations through school-based programmes designed to prevent sexual abuse.

The findings are the result of a Cochrane review of data from trials of prevention programmes in the US, Canada, China, Germany, Spain, Taiwan and Turkey. Cochrane is a highly regarded, not-for-profit global network of researchers and professionals that carries out systematic reviews of the best available health research.

Schools used a variety of methods to educate children about sexual abuse, including films, plays, songs, puppets, books and games. The children, who were almost all of primary-school age, were taught about safety rules, body ownership and who to tell. The report’s authors said there was little evidence that children who took part were worried or in any way adversely affected.

In one American school, children took part in a one-hour Stop programme (stop, tell someone, own your body, protect yourself) taught through role-play; in Germany, children watched a live performance called (No) Child’s Play, and in Turkey there were four hour-long sessions based on a programme called Good Touch, Bad Touch.

Globally it is estimated that at least one in 10 girls and one in 20 boys experience some form of sexual abuse in childhood. Those who have been abused are more susceptible to depression, eating disorders, suicidal behaviour and drug and alcohol problems in later life.

“This review supports the need to inform and protect children against sexual abuse,” said the Cochrane report’s lead author, Kerryann Walsh, of Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. “But ongoing research is needed to evaluate school-based prevention programmes, and to investigate the links between participation and the actual prevention of child sexual abuse. To really know whether these programmes are working, we need to see larger studies with follow-up all the way to adulthood.”

The study also indicated that the programmes were effective in increasing kids’ lasting knowledge of sexual abuse, with children remembering much of what they had been taught six months later. But the authors also said it was difficult to prove the children had learned the skills that would necessarily translate to a real-life future scenario involving abuse.

Walsh said: “Even if a child demonstrates that they know how to behave in a certain scenario, it doesn’t mean they will behave the same in a real situation where there is potential for abuse. Tests cannot mimic real abuse situations very well. For example, we know that most sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known to the child, whereas in the test situations, unfamiliar actors or research assistants were used.”

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Bernard Lane

Published: Dec 12, 2023

The gist

Analysis

An Australian health minister, Shannon Fentiman, who is responsible for the busy gender clinic of the Queensland Children’s Hospital, has acknowledged the lack of consensus on how to treat gender dysphoria.

Four words stood out in Ms Fentiman’s otherwise cagey, scripted response to a question in state parliament about the source of the evidence justifying the puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones given to minors by the Brisbane-based clinic.

“Whilst acknowledging that best practices rely on some aspects of transgender health care and there is not consensus [Emphasis added], the work continues,” she said on November 30.

Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Jillian Spencer, who has been calling for an independent federal inquiry into the care of gender dysphoric youth, welcomed Ms Fentiman’s concession reflecting the state of medical opinion—a concession not forthcoming from Australia’s other health ministers.

“It is such a relief to have [Queensland’s] health minister finally acknowledge that there is not consensus regarding the best practices for transgender healthcare,” Dr Spencer told GCN.

Dr Spencer is a critic of the “gender-affirming” treatment approach followed by the Queensland gender clinic. Earlier this year she was suspended from clinical duties at the children’s hospital reportedly after a patient lodged a complaint of “transphobia”.

“The minister says that the work of the [clinic] continues despite the lack of consensus on best practice for transgender healthcare,” Dr Spencer said.

“Why is the work of the [clinic] continuing if there is no consensus? Shouldn’t we be more careful than that—especially when the health of children is at stake? Parents want cautious and evidence-based healthcare for their children.

“The children and parents of Queensland deserve to have paediatric gender services that are based on a systematic review of the research evidence similar to what is happening in the UK with the Cass Review.”

She challenged the advice given to Ms Fentiman that the work of the Queensland gender clinic represented “international best practice”.

“[It appears her advisers] have failed to let her know that, internationally, when [countries such as Finland, Sweden and the UK] have conducted independent, systematic reviews of the research literature, they have moved away from an affirmative approach to prioritise psychosocial interventions rather than puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones”.

“A new front in the struggle over transgender issues has opened up. Two [US] medical malpractice lawsuits, each levied by a plaintiff who regrets having undergone medication-based gender-transition treatment—one at age 14—have taken aim at the American medical establishment’s support for prescribing such drugs to minors.”—Journalist Benjamin Ryan, news report, New York Sun, 5 December 2023

---

The detail

Behind the scenes

Minister Fentiman’s remarked on the lack of medical consensus during her short November 30 reply to Robbie Katter MP, whose question was prompted by Ms Fentiman’s earlier reassurance that care at the gender clinic was “of very high quality and based on the best available evidence.”

The minister’s surprising concession to critics of the gender-affirming approach—the approach enforced at the gender clinic—chimes with the reference by Queensland’s chief psychiatrist, Dr John Reilly, to plans for an “independent review” of the clinic.

GCN has sought clarification on both points from the government; there was no reply.

Might Queensland be the first Australian jurisdiction to publicly acknowledge the force of the international debate about medicalised gender change for minors? Have there been frank discussions, even talk of doing something, in Ms Fentiman’s office or among her health and hospital officials?

The main focus now for Queensland’s governing Labor Party is re-election. In power since 2013, the party has shuffled its leadership as it prepares for the state poll scheduled for 26 October 2024.

It appears that Steven Miles, a former health minister, will succeed the long-serving Annastacia Palaszczuk as premier.

Ms Fentiman, a solicitor from the party’s left faction, was briefly in the running. Her narrative was change and renewal, a government with “the maturity to admit where we have fallen short.”

Does anyone think that concerns about gender medicine will have evaporated by next October?

--

Affirmed by guidelines

Minister Fentiman’s November 30 defence of the gender clinic boiled down to its “adherence to peer-reviewed national and internationally accepted published practice clinical guidelines”.

She cited the latest, 8th edition of standards of care issued last year by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which she said evinced “a rigorous and evidence-based approach”.

She also invoked the 2017 clinical guideline of the Endocrine Society, offering to get a copy for Mr Katter, who represents a minor party in the parliament.

And she cited a third document, the 2018 “Australian standards of care” issued by the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.

Back in September, Ms Fentiman had said the gender medicine practised by the Queensland clinic was “an emerging field globally—no-one shies away from that—but the evidence base is sound.”

In fact, the evidence base for medicalised gender change for minors is very weak and uncertain, according to five independent systematic reviews since 2019 in Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom (one review each for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones) and the American state of Florida.

The founder of the Queensland gender clinic, Dr Stephen Stathis, recently conceded the complaint of sceptics that the evidence base for gender-affirming treatment is of low quality, although he argued this was not unusual in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry.

Lack of solid evidence has led gender-affirming clinicians and activists to rely heavily on treatment guidelines and position statements from medical organisations when claiming that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery are “settled science”.

But systematic reviews are regarded as the highest form of evidence, while treatment guidelines and position statements—representing expert opinion or professional consensus—are the lowest.

And it’s arguable that gender-affirming treatment guidelines do not even reflect expert consensus, as Ms Fentiman’s arresting remark suggests.

The extent of health professional dissent from the gender-affirming model is masked because it is well known that critics will be smeared as “transphobic”, subjected to bad-faith complaints and have their careers put at risk.

If in truth there is no consensus, the treatment guidelines cited by Ms Fentiman are misleading and cannot justify the risky medical interventions given by the gender clinic.

It’s unclear how this contradiction in the minister’s November 30 statement arose. Does it reflect a confused briefing from her advisers and officials, or a belated awareness that gender-affirming medicine is hardly settled science?

--

Reviewphobia

In any case, the problem for Ms Fentiman is that her faith in those three treatment guidelines is misplaced.

The “rigorous” WPATH guideline process involved a chaotic last-minute abandonment of minimum ages for most hormonal and surgical interventions; the rationale appears to be to give clinicians better protection against malpractice suits.

Credible guidelines draw on a systematic review of the evidence. WPATH’s new chapter on adolescents—the group that is the focus of international concern—involved no such review. WPATH pleaded the scarcity of studies on early medical intervention.

And yet early medical intervention is what the guideline recommends. Perhaps WPATH was worried about the predictable output of a systematic review, not the meagre input.

Scarcity of studies did not prevent Sweden’s systematic review of the evidence. Its literature search began with almost 10,000 research abstracts and identified just 24 relevant studies for evaluation.

One of the experts involved, Professor Mikael Landén of the Karolinska Institute said—

“Against the background of almost non-existent long-term data, we conclude that [puberty blocker] treatment in children with gender dysphoria should be considered experimental treatment rather than standard procedure. This is to say that treatment should only be administered in the context of a clinical trial under informed consent.”

The gender clinic that Ms Fentiman celebrates for its “life-changing care” gives puberty blockers as routine treatment. And remember, Queensland’s parliament has been assured by the minister that “the evidence base is sound”.

--

A matter of trust

Ms Fentiman also cited the 2018 “Australian standards of care” from the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH), noting its publication as a position statement in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA).

But that cut-down version of the guideline, shielded by the journal’s pay wall, contains an admission not found in the full guideline which is the document that is readily available on the hospital website and relied on by youth gender clinics across Australia.

The MJA version says: “The scarcity of high-quality published evidence on the topic prohibited the assessment of level (and quality) of evidence for these recommendations.”

Earlier this year, GCN put this claim to Professor Gordon Guyatt, a pioneer of evidence-based medicine and the GRADE system for rating evidence quality.

“[That claim] is enough for me to say this is not a trustworthy guideline”, Professor Guyatt said.

The RCH guideline was considered for inclusion in the National Health and Medical Research Council’s online portal Australian Clinical Practice Guidelines but did not qualify.

“At the screening stage it was determined that the guideline did not include a funding statement, an evidence base for the recommendations or information about conflict of interest, and that it would not meet the portal selection criteria, so a full assessment was not carried out,” a spokeswoman for the NHMRC said in 2021.

[ Screenshot: Advice from the 2018 RCH “Australian standards of care” document ]

--

Divided opinion

Also in 2021, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), which had previously endorsed the RCH guideline, issued a new more cautious policy on gender dysphoria.

Its policy says that “evidence and professional opinion is divided as to whether an affirmative approach should be taken in relation to treatment of transgender children or whether other approaches are more appropriate.” (Note: After posting this article, I was alerted to an update of the RANZCP’s gender dysphoria policy, which I will report elsewhere.)

In its recently updated guide, the National Association of Practising Psychiatrists says “there is no consensus that medical treatments such as the use of puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones or sexual reassignment surgery lead to better future psycho-social adjustment.”

No consensus, but the Queensland Children’s Hospital requires health professions to follow the gender-affirming model rather than allowing a neutral therapeutic approach.

We know this because psychiatrist Dr Spencer has raised concerns—initially within the hospital, then publicly—about the potential harm done to minors by unthinking “affirmation”. She even wrote to the minister about this.

“I started testosterone five years ago today. After 4+ years of weekly injections to maintain such dangerously high hormone levels, I had elevated liver enzymes, heightened red blood cell counts, and regular heart palpitations. I am so grateful I stopped when I did.”—American detransitioner Morgan, tweet, 4 December 2023

--

Low-quality advice

Ms Fentiman’s third guideline, from the Endocrine Society, has an important feature that her advisers appear to have overlooked.

Unlike the RCH document, the 2017 Endocrine Society guideline did rate the quality of evidence supporting their treatment recommendations.

Five of the society’s six recommendations on puberty blockers depend on evidence rated as “low quality”.

The sixth recommendation—for administering blockers in early puberty, as is done at Queensland’s gender clinic—rests on “very low-quality” evidence, the lowest possible rating. Awkward but important details, rarely mentioned.

Also unmentioned is the society’s careful disclaimer that its “guidelines cannot guarantee any specific outcome, nor do they establish a standard of care.” Not helpful for those demanding a monopoly for gender-affirming care.

In July this year, the society’s president, Dr Stephen R Hammes, made the claim that, “More than 2,000 studies published since 1975 form a clear picture: Gender-affirming care improves the well-being of transgender and gender-diverse people and reduces the risk of suicide.”

This, he said in a letter to The Wall Street Journal, was the evidence used by the society in its “rigorous process” to develop the 2017 treatment guideline.

He provoked a dramatic and humiliating response—a letter of sharp dissent signed by 21 clinicians and researchers from nine countries involved in the care of teenagers with gender distress.

Among them was Finland’s reformist pioneer of gender medicine, Professor Riittakerttu Kaltiala, whistleblower clinicians from England’s Tavistock clinic Dr Anna Hutchinson and Dr Anastassis Spiliadis, and Belgian expert on evidence-based medicine Dr Patrik Vankrunkelsven.

All systematic reviews to date, the letter’s authors pointed out, had “found the evidence for mental-health benefits of hormonal interventions for minors to be of low or very low certainty.”

“Dr Hammes’s claim that gender transition reduces suicides is contradicted by every systematic review, including the review published by the Endocrine Society, which states, ‘We could not draw any conclusions about death by suicide.’ There is no reliable evidence to suggest that hormonal transition is an effective suicide-prevention measure.

“The politicization of transgender healthcare in the US is unfortunate. The way to combat it is for medical societies to align their recommendations with the best available evidence—rather than exaggerating the benefits and minimizing the risks.”

So, is Minister Fentiman confident that she had been given an apolitical and accurate summary of the benefits and risks of treatment at Queensland’s gender clinic?

“Opinion is divided about the certainty of the evidence base for gender-affirming medical interventions in youth. Proponents claim that these treatments are well supported, while critics claim the poor-quality evidence base warrants extreme caution. Psychotherapy is one of the only available alternatives to the gender-affirming approach. Discussion of the treatment of gender dysphoria in young people is generally framed in terms of two binary approaches: affirmation or conversion. Psychotherapy/exploratory therapy offers a treatment option that lies outside this binary, although it is mistakenly conflated with conversion therapies.”—Psychiatrist Dr Roberto D’Angelo, article, Journal of Medical Ethics, 2023

--

Just the one

Also, in the spirit of governments owning up to mistakes, Ms Fentiman might revisit something she said about Dr Spencer.

On September 14, Mr Katter raised the issue of the compulsion for doctors to use the gender-affirming model with dysphoric children, and asked, “Will the minister intervene to restore the ability of doctors—including Dr Jillian Spencer, who has been stood down—to use their professional medical discretion when treating gender dysphoric children?”

Ms Fentiman replied—

“I understand there have been a number of complaints made by patients in relation to Dr Spencer. These complaints are subject to a number of HR processes within Children’s Health [which runs the hospital] as well as referrals to [the health professions regulator] Ahpra and the Health Ombudsman.”

A possible implication of Ms Fentiman’s comment is that Dr Spencer had engaged in a pattern of conduct attracting multiple complaints from patients.

Last month, thanks to a right of reply mechanism, a correction from Dr Spencer was placed on the parliamentary record—

“The minister’s statement suggests that I am the subject of a number of patient complaints. That is incorrect. There is only one patient complaint lodged against me.”

--

“After being expelled from my master’s degree for speaking out about the impact of gender ideology on child safeguarding, I am extremely pleased to announce that I have agreed a settlement with the UK Council for Psychotherapy. [The council] have published a formal statement protecting therapists who believe in biological reality and stand against irreversible medicalisation of children. They say training institutions should never discriminate against students on this basis.”—UK lawyer turned trainee therapist James Esses, tweet, 11 December 2023

GCN sought comment from Ms Fentiman and RCH

==

Australia lumbers drunkenly towards figuring out this is all a major medical disaster.

[qnewsau]

Sydney Olympics featured our own drag show 24 years ago

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/sydney-olympics-featured-our-own-drag-show-24-years-ago/

Sydney Olympics featured our own drag show 24 years ago

Footage of Sydney’s own Olympics drag show from our closing ceremony in 2000 has resurfaced after the homophobic backlash to the Paris Games.

For more than four days, Christians and other conservatives have been up in arms that during the Paris opening ceremony, a group of French performers dared to recreate Leonardi da Vinci’s The Last Supper while queer.

Aussies are now also reminiscing on the last time we hosted the Olympics, in Sydney in 2000.

At the closing ceremony in Sydney, dozens of Australian drag performers join the loud and colourful parade around the stadium. The drag float was a tribute to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Sydney 2000 closing ceremony had drag queens driving heels in a tribute to Priscilla FYI pic.twitter.com/QYMFvSLrdx

— adam (@adamjmoussa) July 26, 2024

Forty-six of Sydney’s top drag queens were approached and cast in the performance, putting on original gowns and costumes from the 1994 queer classic.

A recreated Priscilla bus was also part of the parade, and during the closing ceremony, performers attached giant lashes to the buses’ windscreen.

Drag queen Vanessa Wagner rode atop a giant pink wig on the Priscilla bus.

Out in front, drag performers pedalled the iconic giant high heel shoe bicycles.

The Priscilla float in the Sydney 2000 closing ceremony was one of a few that celebrated Aussie films.

It followed Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan, who was surrounded by Australian animal costumes as he rode atop a giant Akubra hat.

‘The homosexual capital of the world’

The drag queens’ involvement in the Sydney closing ceremony – which also featured Kylie Minogue – was kept very hush-hush.

Olympics bosses announced it around three weeks before the Games began, and at the time, there was backlash.

Callers raged to conservative talkback radio stations that a Priscilla show was “endorsing a gay lifestyle”.

Church leaders and far-right politicians warned it could make Sydney the “homosexual capital of the world.”

“This blatant condoning of a public homosexual display during the closing ceremony will not enhance the Olympic Games nor Australia as host to the Games,” NSW MP Reverend Fred Nile said in 2000.

“Homosexual and lesbian behaviour is not a true representation of Australian culture and lifestyle.

“Drag queens do not truly represent our great Aussie culture at all.”

In reality, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was a box office hit and became an Australian classic. The film is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

The movie is returning to cinemas in September. It now has a popular outback drag festival dedicated to it. A highly-anticipated sequel is in development 30 years later.

In just under a decade, Brisbane will bring the Olympics back to Australia in 2032. Bring back the shoe bicycles!

The Gold Coast hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2018. At Surfers Paradise during the Games, Courtney Act hosted an entire concert dedicated to drag queens and queer performers.

Read more:

Drag Race host Nicky Doll’s defiant response to Olympics backlash

Guy Pearce weighs in on Priscilla Queen of the Desert sequel

‘Save the queen’: How the original Priscilla bus was rediscovered

‘They booed’: Stephan Elliott recalls horror first Priscilla screening

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

The mob lunged towards me, screeching and grabbing, and I knew that if I fell I would never get up. I’ve stopped expecting mercy from anyone whose motto is ‘Be kind’ but the event last week was terrifying. I was sure in that moment, on the New Zealand leg of my ‘Let Women Speak’ tour, that the trans activists who surrounded me would trample me to death if they could. They gather in menacing groups to intimidate us and hurt us if they can, just to prevent us speaking a simple truth: that women don’t have penises, men don’t have vaginas, there is no such thing as non-binary and transitioning children is abuse.

We started these talks at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, London and have now taken them around the UK and across the USA. The format of the event is a gathering with a microphone and amplification, livestreamed to my ‘Kellie-Jay Keen’ YouTube channel. Women can finally say what they want, protected by the group. It’s a genuine free speech event. Sydney, Brisbane and Perth events saw a few hundred women in total attend and speak about the impact transgender ideology is having upon their lives. They were afraid and yet defiant – they’ve had enough. There were tears and a triumphant resolve to bring our society back to a place where the truth has more value than virtue-signalling.

The turn towards violence came in Melbourne at our largest gathering. The police had done a pretty fine job of protecting women with buffer zones between us and the rabid trans activists. But this gathering included competing groups of woman-hating losers: trans incels to the left of me and Nazis to the right, and here we were stuck in the middle and blamed by the media and politicians for the Nazi salute that occurred. I’ve been asked following that incident whether I have sympathies with the far right, but seriously, who does? It’s a vile ideology and frankly anyone convinced by it in 2023 is pathetic. John Pesutto, the leader of the Liberals in Victoria, repeated dangerous lies about me and suspended Moira Deeming MP from his party for her association with me.

The Tasmanian event was pretty horrifying. The women who spoke were visibly terrified and an angry mob drowned out their voices with hysterical screams and cult-like mantras. Following the event, I was called ‘a Terd’ – a play on ‘Terf’ – in the Tasmanian parliament. This storm gathered pace and in New Zealand it was magnified a hundredfold. There was a case brought to the high court to try to stop me entering the country and their media started a constant spew of lies, insisting I was a dangerous anti-trans Nazi. At the border I had a two-hour interrogation and search, one hotel cancelled my reservation, and in another a threatening note was slid under my door while I slept. I had been told I would be protected by the police. That couldn’t have been further from the truth.

The big event, the one that has been in the news, was in Auckland, and the minute I arrived I felt rising fear. As the car pulled up I could see the thousands gathered to oppose me. My security gathered around me and we pushed through the hateful mob to the centre, where the local organisers and attendees were who had come to speak. Where were the police? Not one officer was in that crowd; not one officer was there to protect the brave women who turned up. Within seconds a man had tipped tomato soup all over my head. I continued to live-stream. But over the next few minutes the mob took on a life of its own. A frenzy grew until it was a deafening swell, a modern-day ‘Burn the witch’. Men started ripping down the barriers and charging forward. ‘The police aren’t coming,’ said my head of security. ‘We have to get you out.’ This meant placing me in the centre of my security and some stewards, women who had volunteered to help, pushed through the baying mob. As we moved, we stumbled. I knew that a body on a floor is fair game and ripe for stomping and kicking. When we eventually got to the outer edge of the park, the police did step in and helped get me to a car. They took me to the nearest police station where I was guarded for six hours before I had an escort of three officers to the airport. They didn’t leave until my plane took off.

That day I was told emphatically by each police officer and security that had I fallen I would have been killed. Women were injured that day, women who you may never hear about. You will never know their names. They didn’t get to hop on a plane and leave; they have to stay and live in a country that has told them their lives are not worth protecting.

by Posie Parker (Kelly-Jay Keen)

[dialogue-queered]

Comment: An update on the issues in a context where the US and Australia are now officially in diplomatic conflict over this matter.

Prem Thakkur

14 August 2023

The United States is considering a plea deal that would allow WikiLeaks founder and whistleblower Julian Assange to return to Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday.

U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy told the Morning Herald that there could be a “resolution” to Assange’s now-four-year detention in Britain. Assange, an Australian citizen, has been held in a London prison since 2019 while combating U.S. extradition efforts. He faces 18 criminal charges in the U.S., 17 of which allege violations of the Espionage Act.

Kennedy’s comments come weeks after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken rebuffed Australia’s calls to end the prosecution against Assange. After a July meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Brisbane, Blinken said the whistleblower was “charged with very serious criminal conduct” for his role in publishing classified American government materials. The files Assange shared in 2010 included footage of a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed 18 civilians — including journalists — and hundreds of thousands of field reports from the Iraq War.

“There is a way to resolve it,” Kennedy said on Assange’s detention, adding that a plea deal would be “up to the Justice Department.” The Department of Justice declined to comment. The State Department did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment.

“The administration appears to be searching for an off-ramp ahead of [the Australian prime minister’s] first state visit to DC in October,” Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s brother, told The Intercept. “If one isn’t found we could see a repeat of a very public rebuff delivered by Tony Blinken to the Australian Foreign Minister two weeks ago in Brisbane.”

Dan Rothwell, an international law expert at Australian National University, told the Morning Herald that he believes a likely outcome would involve American authorities downgrading the charges against Assange in exchange for a guilty plea, while taking into account the four years he has already spent in prison.

In May, Kennedy met with a cross-party delegation of parliamentary supporters of Assange. “The U.S. and Australia have a very important and close relationship, and it’s time to demonstrate that,” Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said at the time.

Assange’s case has raised major press freedom concerns around the globe.“The United States is applying extra-territorial reach by charging Assange, who is not a US citizen and did not commit alleged crimes in the US, under its Espionage Act,” a group of former Australian attorneys general wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week. “We believe that this sets a very dangerous precedent and has the potential to put at risk anyone, anywhere in the world, who publishes information that the US unilaterally deems to be classified for security reasons.”

As part of WikiLeaks’ release of documents, Assange coordinated with outlets like Spain’s El País, France’s Le Monde, the U.K.’s The Guardian, and the New York Times to release classified cables revealing the inner-workings of bargaining, diplomacy, and threat-making around the world. 

Assange has faced legal pressure since his mass documents leak in 2010; he sought asylum in Ecuador in 2012 and lost it before being imprisoned in London. In June, the Morning Herald reported that the FBI was seeking new information about Assange, disturbing the sense of optimism in Australia that had come from Kennedy’s meeting with lawmakers.

The ambassador’s latest comments have renewed hope from Assange’s family for a solution to the 13-year-long limbo he has faced.

“This is a sign that they don’t want this playing out in American courts, particularly during an election cycle,” Shipton told Sky News on Monday, “so the U.S. administration is really looking for an off-ramp here for what is an extremely, extremely controversial press freedom prosecution.”

[ifreakingloveroyals]

21 October 2014 | Princess Anne, Princess Royal is greeted by Lord Samuel Vestey and John McVeigh MP as she arrives at the Agricultural Conference at the Royal International Convention Centre in Brisbane, Australia. (c) Glenn Hunt/Getty Images

[robpyne]

Thank you Amy MacMahon - Greens MP for South Brisbane for listening to our concerns around housing, youth crime and climate. If only we had more reps like her who really care about people. #cairns

[kholden83]

I posted 12,046 times in 2022

22 posts created (0%)

12,024 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@the-gayest-dovah

@maximum-mom

@stabbyflower

@straycatj

@farm-paws

I tagged 2,013 of my posts in 2022

#pet rat - 232 posts

#should probably tag this 'personal' or something - 36 posts

#unreality - 29 posts

#huh - 20 posts

#signal boost - 19 posts

#wow - 17 posts

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#fictional pet care - 12 posts

#some original content - 12 posts

#hmm - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and it only came up because of that school in brisbane that tried to suddenly tried to add a bunch of anti-gay stuff to their previously ba

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I'm sure we all know the post about cleaning with ADHD that suggests "Junebugging", an attitude to cleaning that as long as something is being cleaned, progress is being made, so don't worry if you somehow cleaned the kitchen table instead of the shower?

Anyway, I just junebugged my way into cleaning the outside of the front door.

I put some washing (US:laundry) on, and to help it dry (I usually hang it inside) put my hygrometer outside to see if it was worth opening up. It was only 60% outside, to inside's 70%, so I wandered around opening windows.

Kitchen window had somehow got locked, so I got the Complete house keys, which live on a lanyard, to unlock it. (I have a copy of the door key on my bike key chain, so I don't need the Complete set often)

Lanyard was mouldy somehow, so I hung it on the doorknob to wipe it over with isopropyl alcohol.

After that, the bit of the door that got wiped incidentally was way cleaner, and showing up how dirty the rest of the door was, so I got some wipes out and cleaned that too. For the first time since I lived here, some 5 years now.

After I typed that, I looked up the original post to just double check, and it defined junebugging a little differently to how I had recalled it, but my thinking here was inspired by it.

Anyway, after that, I'd accidentally removed one more wipe from the packet than I needed for the door, and my grubby fingers had got it dirty, so I cleaned the light switches. The one in the kitchen was filthy, I'm not sure it had ever been cleaned, tbh.

3 notes - Posted April 20, 2022

#4

I finally got around to scheduling my COVID booster. I very cleverly scheduled it for a Monday afternoon, shortly after my daycentre finishes to save a trip into Town, and before I have a couple of days with nothing on, just in case I have side effects.

Only. I forgot that today is a public holiday, and my day centre is closed, so I don't save a trip into town, and there is in fact a small possibility that the chemist itself won't be open, and the website just let me schedule for this arvo because the public holiday hadn't been programmed in. I did actually mean to ring up and check, but I forgot.

I could have rescheduled for next week, but I've already put it off for months, so I decided to just go anyway

3 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

#3

ARGH! Four electorates still in doubt in the whole country, and one of them is mine. I just want to know who our MP is!

4 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

#2

Well, it finally got me. I have COVID.

I'm at camp, and woke up this morning feeling like a truck hit me, and left a buncha sludge in my lungs.

So I left the cabin, and hung out on the verandah until someone in authority woke up so I could ask for a test. Which was positive. Really positive, the line was really clear before it even finished developing.

Currently back on the verandah, waiting for a family member to come retrieve me.

About an hour ago I coughed so hard I puked.

5 notes - Posted December 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I am so just over all this rain

Not as much as the residents of Lismore, I guess, but even without dangerous flooding this is too much water.

6 notes - Posted March 2, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[workersbushtelegraph]

Labor complicity in genocide

I live in the seat of Griffith which is a federal government electorate in the inner city area of Brisbane’s East. For the past two elections, I have voted for Max Chandler-Mather Because I have nowhere else to cast my vote either for Liberal or for Labor. Yesterday in the Parliament my MP justified my vote by calling out the Australian government’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza.  This is…

[thxnews]

UK-Australia Trade Deal Boosts Music Industry

The UK's Melodic Trade Advancement

The recent UK-Australia Trade Agreement is bringing festive cheer to the British music industry. This landmark deal, slashing tariffs and simplifying export procedures, has been instrumental in helping British music companies, like London-based Audoo, expand their reach Down Under just in time for the lucrative Christmas period.   Audoo's Expansion: A Case Study in Success Audoo, a pioneering music tech company backed by British legends Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney, is making significant strides in Australia. Their innovative Audio Meters, designed to ensure fair royalty payments to musicians, have seen more than a double increase in deployment across Australian venues. This expansion in major cities like Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Adelaide ensures musicians receive their due royalties during the festive season.  

British Beats Resonating in Australia

The influence of British music is palpable in Australia's Christmas celebrations, with UK artists featuring in three of the top 10 Christmas songs last year. This cultural exchange underscores the UK-Australia Trade Agreement's role in enhancing the global presence of British music.   The Financial Tune of Lost Royalties Bloomberg's 2018 report underscores a significant issue: nearly $3 billion in unaccounted royalties lost to artists and record companies annually. In response to this, the trade agreement aims to bridge this gap by enabling companies like Audoo in their crucial mission to deliver accurate data, thereby ensuring fair royalty distribution for artists and creators.  

Government and Business Perspectives

Trade Policy Minister Greg Hands and Audoo CEO Ryan Edwards both acknowledge the positive impact of the trade deal. Edwards credits the agreement for accelerating Audoo's implementation in Australia, while Hands emphasizes the importance of fair payment for British artists, especially during the festive season.   Melbourne: Australia's Festive Music Capital Moreover, Melbourne emerged as the most festive Australian city in 2022, where Christmas songs comprised a significant portion of all music played from November to December. Consequently, this trend highlights the strong cultural ties and shared festivities between the UK and Australia, further emphasizing the mutual appreciation and influence of each country's musical heritage during the holiday season.  

Economic Harmony: The Trade Deal's Broader Impact

The UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement, effective since May 2023, removes tariffs on all UK goods exported to Australia. This first post-Brexit deal negotiated from scratch by the UK is projected to boost trade with Australia by 53%, enhance the economy by £2.3 billion, and increase household wages. It also reduces red tape for over 13,000 UK SMEs exporting to Australia, ensuring quicker customs clearance.   Sources: THX News, Department for Business and Trade & The Rt Hon Greg Hands MP. Read the full article

[jayhorsestar]

army general retired and replaced as of october, pentagon affairs, minuteman is icbm and air force, but all those fixed stations are perhaps guarded by MPs and not USMC, mebbe the army itself. so it's a change of guard, in view the wright bros. vs the UN in the meantime. sofia was at the White House, and she and another retired general, DISA times, have pics w young kiddo. she a girl and Global Citizen would had been dedicated to such generals. and generals' daughters. Grant's sons. russia sent alert GSM automatically icbm drill to take place beginning of october. canada border could read, so GSM overlay. brussels ordered ESA begin arming up for upcoming ISS retirement. minimum wage should update as of beginning of october, for govt budget payslip, then some private lands too. we deal cash affairs, might be soon. more a buck a day, cover the one way by bus ticket. israeli are happy to freely travel to the USA, main diaspora regions Miami, LA, NYC, Seattle, much similar to Greek orthodox diaspora classic locations in the USA. i could call E&F Ltd few blocks away, go meet up IL ladies for their week in RO specializing, and marry one, and then by 2025-2026 freely drop leg into the Miami, or LA. can't see me doing all that. am old, am not running, am not swimming, am simply online, w my beloved squad of ladies, mostly USA. mumbling alone around the house, in my room, will not go easily. i loved having her, was not aware, not opposing, but FR citizen, whatever. she solved the good behavior matrices, and it's not Central America. seen pau onboard, was instant no joke. lie to you not, was instant match! and could had been inner suggestion, but was instantly click. almost ten months ago, and am thinking just like pappa was thinking of mebbe, not the shoppee not the pursers, not the security, but the theatre black tangos, africa.. then officers, perhaps Germany on NCL, so thirty (five by six times a night), and lasted merely a week. even more another sea day, cancelled a port of call, that's xx prime time non-stop. all ships. and that had been last december, see news upcoming this december.. just a heart shadow, Celebrity pushed one new a week ago. Celebrity could run more orthodox officers, lesser procrastinating fanatics. NCL much more fun. more than Princess, true. New Holland is even worse than Celebrity, all port days are mandatory drill full clean tidy uniforms, all crew, all staff, all ships. october is earthquake risk mandatory house insurance, so 'd15robrw computer running only by end of december. am happy for dove, am happy for sofia, perhaps am happy for pau, dunno details, does not look good from here, ad_literam. as if she gottn fkd for free, each and every time she went out of her home. i apologize, sometimes Hawaii is fun, but trophies go in Singapore, Shanghai, Macao, Seul mebbe, Hong Kong mebbe. dunno Melbourne, dunno Brisbane, dunno Manchester. am aware of traditions kept within VS angels old rings, and seen Victoria Beckham trembling her legs, and past year Adriana Lima or smth. it's like receiving call, come wear this dress for a last time feel the thrill. m

[werindialive]

PM Modi attacks opposition parties boycotting the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament Building

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at the opposition parties as they plan to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the New Parliament Complex on the 28th of May.

After returning from his three-nation tour on Wednesday, Modi today released a statement where he said that “The Indian diaspora event in Sydney was not only attended by the Australian PM but also by former PM, mps from opposition parties, and the ruling party. This is the strength of democracy. All of them together participated in this program of the Indian community”. He has returned from his Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Australia trip.

The PM along with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese addressed the diaspora at Sydney's Quds Bank Arena. At this address, the PM announced that India plans to open a consulate in Brisbane very soon to address to the needs and wants of the diaspora.

The statement from Modi came attacking at the 21 opposition parties that are planning to boycott the inauguration of the New Parliamentary building citing that the PM has chosen to do the inauguration over President Murmu. In a joint statement, the opposition parties including Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party said, "When the soul of democracy has been sucked out Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building".

Certain parties, who aren’t the part of NDA, such as Biju Janata Dal, YSRCP, and TDP, will attend the function.

The NDA has commented on the move and has called it out as a “contempt for the very essence of democracy".

[qnewsau]

Petition launched to stop Kellie-Jay Keen's trip to Brisbane

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/petition-launched-to-stop-kellie-jay-keens-trip-to-brisbane/

Petition launched to stop Kellie-Jay Keen's trip to Brisbane

The Trans Justice Project has launched a petition calling for Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to stop anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull from returning to Australia.

The British campaigner describes herself as a women’s rights activist while she makes money campaigning against the rights of transgender and gender-diverse people around the world.

Last year, Keen’s anti-trans Australian speaking tour sparked protests and counter-protests. Gatecrashing Nazis flew transphobic banners and threw salutes on the steps of the Victorian Parliament. Defamation cases were launched

Now, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known online as Posie Parker, has confirmed she’s been booked for the conservative political conference C-PAC Australia. The event is on in less than a fortnight in Brisbane, on October 5-6, 2024.

C-PAC appear to have tried to keep Kellie-Jay’s return low-key. Organisers have kept her name off of the official C-PAC website, instead listing her as a mystery speaker with the blurb, “A global phenomenon who asks a simple question, ‘What is a woman?’”

But Kellie-Jay Keen herself has now confirmed her “flights are booked” on her YouTube channel.

“I’ll be making my way to Australia in a couple of weeks,” the anti-trans activist said.

“I’ll be doing C-PAC Australia.”

Other speakers at C-PAC 2024 include Liz Truss, the shortest-serving British Prime Minister, as well as Coalition MPs Matt Canavan, Bridget McKenzie, Alex Antic, Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt.

‘Hateful, exclusionary and disgusting views’

The Trans Justice Project have launched a Change.org petition ahead of Kellie-Jay Keen at C-PAC in Brisbane.

The petition calls on Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to use his legal powers to deny her entry into Australia.

“Last year, despite massive public outcry, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull was allowed to enter the country to host a national tour targeting the human rights of the trans and gender diverse community,” the Trans Justice Project writes on Change.org.

“If she’s allowed to come here once again she’ll use this as an opportunity to project her hateful, exclusionary, and disgusting views.”

The Trans Justice Project said their research last year found a “spike in instances of anti-trans hate” coinciding with Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s tour.

“We are urgently calling on Minister Tony Burke to use his powers under the Migration Act to deny her entry into Australia,” the petition states.

“Trans people deserve to thrive. We deserve to feel safe in our communities, to have the freedom to be ourselves, and to be able to live free from discrimination and hate.”

Read more:

Anti-trans podcaster Candace Owens faces Aussie visa ban

Cancel anti-trans activist’s visa, Greens MP Stephen Bates says

Tassie MP slams Posie Parker for vile attack on rainbow family

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[christinamac1]

National Party MPs seek nuclear submarine base in central Qld

Perth Now, Dominic Giannini, AAP March 23, 2023 Three Nationals parliamentarians are pushing for Gladstone to be the future home of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines. Matt Canavan, Colin Boyce and Michelle Landry say central Queensland should be considered as a new submarine base due to its northern location. The shortlist for an east coast base includes Brisbane, Newcastle and…

[linguaphiliax]

A politician showing genuine emotions and empathy for other people?!

Inconceivable!

Seriously though, this first speech was so touching, I couldn’t NOT tell anyone about it.

Good on ya, Stephen Bates!

[kira--queen]

Brisbane at night by equineocean on Flickr.