A World Turned Upside Down: Australian News

Wanderfound · July 9, 2021, 11:54pm

Wanderfound · July 11, 2021, 12:34am

Interesting stats.

Due to their outbreaks, Sydney and Melbourne are obvious outliers by either measure:

But when you scale for population, Tasmania isn’t actually that different to the rest of non-SydMelb Australia:

It’s not about the island. Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Canberra.

Wanderfound · July 11, 2021, 12:37am

Oz Indigenous Twitter had a good night:

Wanderfound · July 11, 2021, 8:37am

That bastard’s name is all over Australia. There’s a Macquarie Rivulet feeding into the Tamar/Kanamaluka just south of here.

Wanderfound · July 11, 2021, 12:57pm

Progress of the Sydney outbreak in graphical form:

Wanderfound · July 12, 2021, 4:37am

Wanderfound · July 12, 2021, 7:38am

1,400 people tested in response, no Covid detected so far.

Wanderfound · July 12, 2021, 10:32pm

Wanderfound · July 12, 2021, 11:03pm

Office decoration or Get Smart inspired surveillance?

Wanderfound · July 13, 2021, 6:27am

Wanderfound · July 13, 2021, 11:12pm

There was an anti-racism protest at one of the Sydney prisons yesterday. It was reported in the media as an apolitical riot.

Wanderfound · July 14, 2021, 6:29am

Judge a person by the company they keep.

Wanderfound · July 14, 2021, 7:02am

This, from 2011, is the closest that an Oz prison guard has ever come to being held responsible for an Indigenous death in custody:

Mr Ward died of heatstroke after being transported in Laverton police station to Kalgoorlie, a four hour journey in the back of a prison van without air conditioning.

The prisoner transport officers, Stokoe and driver Graham Powell, did not check that the air-conditioning was working before setting out on the journey, where Mr Ward was placed in a rear pod, metal-lined pod of the prison van. They also did not check that Mr Ward knew how to communicate with them or stop to check on him at any point during the journey.

Mr Ward sustained a third degree burn to his abdomen, caused by the heat of the metal seat, and collapsed shortly before the prison van arrived in Kalgoorlie. He was taken to Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital where his body temperature was measured at over 41 degrees, and could not be revived.

$9,000 fine.

In sentencing Stokoe, Magistrate Greg Benn was highly critical of the mitigating arguments made by Stokoe’s lawyer, Carmel McKenzie.

“The submissions have a very strong theme of trying to excuse and justify her evidence,” Magistrate Benn said.

“I’m not convinced she actually understands and appreciates the level of her wrongdoing.”

“The thing [Stokoe] is most sorry about is the effect this has had on her life, rather than the impact her wrongdoing has had on others.”

He was particularly scathing of the argument that Stokoe had not felt able to talk to Mr Ward to check on his welfare because she believed it was not culturally acceptable for women to communicate with Aboriginal elders.

“I think that submission is absolutely insulting to this court, and an insult to Mr Ward’s family and his community,” he said, noting that this was the first time this argument had been introduced and that no evidence had been advanced to support it.

“I don’t accept for one moment that has any basis whatsoever. There is no evidence Ms Stokoe had any idea of Mr Ward’s status in his community.”

Wanderfound · July 15, 2021, 1:27am

Sydney lockdown now in its third week, declared to be lasting for at least two weeks more. And that is optimistic; expect a month at least. Melbourne has reintroduced compulsory masking due to spillover from NSW.

All this as a (justified, sensible, albeit belated and still overly porous) response to an outbreak of a scale that would be dismissed as routine background noise in any US or UK city.

Wanderfound · July 15, 2021, 1:38am

Wanderfound · July 16, 2021, 12:54am

Classic Oz Murdochery:

Wanderfound · July 16, 2021, 1:23am

Currently, the Tas state government is trying to push through approval for a new tailings dam there for a mining company. It’s a zinc/copper/lead/gold mine; the tailings are nasty.

This is the Tarkine:

This is the Rosebery mine:

This is where it is:

Mt Murchison, just east of Rosebery, is one of the most spectacularly scenic places I’ve ever been. Gorgeous place.

Wanderfound · July 16, 2021, 1:41am

Y’all remember when the Oz Sikh community stepped up with mutual aid during the bushfires? Or when their Kiwi compatriots did the same after Christchurch?

Wanderfound · July 16, 2021, 1:46am

Y’know that thing in US politics where the fash hire some non-white grifters to endorse their white supremacist bullshit?

Here’s the Oz equivalent:

Despite appearances, she claims Indigenous identity. She is very fond of attempting to deny the Indigeneity of other people, though. It’s her main schtick.

Tony Abbott’s a prominent fan. The current Indigenous Affairs minister appointed her to an advisory council.

Wanderfound · July 16, 2021, 4:37am

Note that, despite their proximity to Sydney, the ACT has some of the best Covid control results in the country.

So far.

The NSW Deputy Premier’s daughter just got fined for taking a daytrip from Canberra to Sydney and back.