Violence, arrests, neo-Nazis: Anti-immigration rallies draw crowds
ARRESTS AND CLASHES AT ANTI-IMMIGRATION RALLIES
The anti-immigration rallies held across the country yesterday have dominated coverage overnight, with a number of publications still leading on the events this morning.
The Age says “Melbourne’s CBD roiled with protest on Sunday as anti-immigration and counter-demonstrators clashed repeatedly, and a large number of police were stretched to cope with a shifting struggle that ranged through the city’s streets for more than four hours”.
The newspaper says police arrested six people and confirmed the use of capsicum spray and bean-bag guns “to prevent violence between protesters, some of whom were intent on creating conflict and violence”.
The BBC says protesters in Melbourne clashed with attendees of a separate pro-Palestine rally, while the AAP states this morning that “racism and extremism at anti-immigration rallies across Australia have been condemned after a score of arrests following violent clashes”, adding: “prominent neo-Nazis also gave speeches in Sydney and Melbourne”.
NSW Police estimated some 15,000 people attended the Sydney rally, while Victoria Police estimated the Melbourne crowd size to be 5,000, and Queensland Police reported about 6,000 protesters attended the Brisbane rally.
The AAP reports speakers and attendees “were at pains to state they were not against immigrants but wanted less migration. However, rhetoric crossed into racism and xenophobia and became conspiratorial for some”.
Meanwhile, Guardian Australia says while “the protests were condemned as hateful by the federal government”, some politicians attended the different rallies. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Senator Malcolm Roberts attended the rally in Canberra, and federal MP Bob Katter was at the event in Townsville.
The site points out the marches on Sunday “were promoted by neo-Nazis, as well as anti-lockdown figures who gained prominence during the pandemic, and other fringe groups, but no group publicly claimed responsibility for organising the protests”.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said of the rallies: “There is no place in our country for people who seek to divide and undermine our social cohesion. We stand with modern Australia against these rallies — nothing could be less Australian.”
Anne Aly, the minister for multicultural affairs, also declared: “We stand with all Australians, no matter where they were born, against those who seek to divide us and who seek to intimidate migrant communities. We will not be intimidated. This brand of far-right activism, grounded in racism and ethnocentrism, has no place in modern Australia.”
SOCIAL MEDIA AGE VERIFICATION RISKS
The findings of the study into age assurance technology have been released by the federal government 100 days before its social media ban for under-16s comes into effect.
(Before we continue, I need to draw your attention to the latest episode of Crikey’s new Cut Through podcast, which involves associate editor Cam Wilson talking to host Crystal Andrew about where we’re at with the impending ban and the challenges to come.)
As the ABC reports, the study has found “it was technologically possible to assess a user’s age to a reasonable degree of confidence in a variety of ways, but that every way included risks and shortcomings”.
The study said letting social media platforms pick their own method of age verification could result in inconsistency. “Implementation depends on the willingness of a small number of dominant tech companies to enable or share control of [age assurance] processes,” the report says. “Coordination among dominant [tech] providers is essential if any truly ecosystem-wide age assurance model is to succeed.”
The broadcaster highlights Communications Minister Anika Wells and eSafety commissioner Julie Inman-Grant are set to reveal in the coming weeks the “reasonable steps” social media giants will need to take to comply with the ban.
Wells is quoted by The Conversation as saying of the trial’s results: “While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to age assurance, this trial shows there are many effective options and importantly that user privacy can be safeguarded.”
The AAP points out more than 60 different age verification tools were assessed as part of the trial.
“Age assurance can be done in Australia,” the report states, adding: “However, the rapidly evolving threat environment means that these systems — while presently fairly robust — cannot be considered infallible.”
The newswire highlights the report also warned that some providers were currently collecting too much data on users. “We found some concerning evidence that in the absence of specific guidance, service providers were apparently over-anticipating the eventual needs of regulators about providing personal information for future investigations,” it said.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa last week lauded Australia’s plans to ban children under 16 from accessing social media, The Mandarin reports.
“The plasticity of their [young people’s] brains is being reshaped. If you’re always pumped full of dopamine, it’s like being permanently under drugs. Social media is awful for human rights,” she said. Ressa is addressing the National Press Club in Canberra today on the theme of “Facts. Truth. Trust”.
The federal politicians will also be in the capital for another sitting week of both houses of Parliament, with the social media ban likely to get attention. Net zero will also continue to feature (because, you know, the Coalition), with The Australian reporting this morning that Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has “urged opposition frontbencher Andrew Hastie against voting for his bill to abolish a commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050”.
The paper says: “Joyce warned Mr Hastie it would be counterproductive for him to support a private member’s bill to abolish the net-zero target, as it would lead the prominent conservative Liberal to be dumped from the shadow ministry and limit his impact on policy development”.
Hastie didn’t comment when contacted by the newspaper, and Joyce declared: “I don’t know where Andrew’s mind is at, that is his business”.
Meanwhile, the AAP informs us in a headline this morning, “It’s not me, it’s you: millions abandon the Coalition”…
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
A bright orange shark has been discovered by fishermen near Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica.
Scientists, who published pictures of the unusual creature in the Marine Biology journal last month, said it was the first time a shark of that colour had ever been seen, the BBC reports.
The colouring is caused by a condition called xanthism, which is when creatures lose dark skin pigments, resulting in a visible yellow or orange colouring.
Sport fishing guide and hotel owner Garvin Watson told The New York Times: “We saw an orange glow below the water and I said, ‘My God, what is this?’ We were all screaming like crazy.”
Watson posted pictures of the shark on social media last year, and it drew the attention of researchers who subsequently wrote up a paper on the discovery.
“I saw the photos and I was impressed,” marine biologist and executive director of Costa Rica’s Rescue Center for Endangered Marine Species Daniel Arauz Naranjo said. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is something strange.’”
Watson said he let the usual creature go after catching it, and, for reasons only he knows, kissed the shark and told it: “Thank you. We love you.”
Say What?
The world today is swept by once-in-a-century transformations. The international situation is both fluid and chaotic.
Xi Jinping
The Chinese leader was speaking during his meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Sunday. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is also in China for the summit.
CRIKEY RECAP
Landlord List: See how many properties your local MP owns
New analysis of the 48th Parliament’s interests register by Crikey and Open Politics reveals MPs and their families have declared 451 properties, from primary residences and second homes in Canberra through to rental investment properties, holiday homes and beach houses.
Of the 226 members, 135 declared that they or their families own two or more properties, 69 own three or more properties, and 29 own four or more. Only 16 MPs, 7%, have declared owning no property at all. (For those counting, we’re missing a declaration from One Nation’s Warwick Stacey, who resigned earlier this month, and independent MP Bob Katter, who… simply hasn’t filed.)
In the table below, search by politician or party to see how many properties have been declared. These numbers are an undercount, as senators are not required to publicly disclose their families’ interests.
‘Hunt down all cops’: Dezi Freeman fantasised for years about killing police in unearthed social media posts
Dezi Freeman obsessively posted fantasies about killing and torturing police officers across social media platforms in the years leading up to the alleged shooting of two officers and the injury of another at Porepunkah this week.
Crikey has exclusively obtained seven years of Freeman’s private Facebook posts, dozens of Telegram messages and other previously unreported Instagram comments.
Cut Through: No-one knows how the teen social media ban will work
In just four months, social media platforms will be forced to ban kids aged 16 and under. How will that work? Well, that’s the thing… no-one actually knows.
Crikey associate editor and tech journalist Cam Wilson has been closely following the progress of the teen social media ban — from the push for a ban by commercial radio host Michael “Wippa” Wipfli, to rushed legislation, aggressive lobbying by the tech giants, and, now, a trial of age-verification technology that’s not quite going to plan.
He joins Cut Through host Crystal Andrews to explain what the hell is going on, and what you can expect when the results from the tech trial are made public.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Wife of alleged Porepunkah killer Dezi Freeman urges him to surrender, sharing ‘deep sorrow’ at police deaths (Guardian Australia)
Gina Rinehart assists in News Corp’s climate flip-flopping (AFR) ($)
A Current Affair rocked by another scandal, with star reporter in firing line (The Australian) ($)
‘Chemo is smacking me around’: Magda Szubanski gives update from hospital (The Sydney Morning Herald) ($)
Greta Thunberg and crew set off on second flotilla to Gaza, to be joined by over 20 other boats (Sky News)
Mass hallucinations: How I caught a rogue AI reporter (City AM)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Albanese government resorts to whatever-it-takes to rid Australia of former detainees — Michelle Grattan (The Conversation): It is fortunate for the government that the opposition is backing the latest legislation. If the government had needed the Greens to pass the legislation, it would probably be facing defeat.
The Greens condemned the Nauru deal. Their immigration spokesman David Shoebridge said: “At a time when we should be building partnerships in the Pacific based on equality and respect, the government is instead forcing our smaller neighbours to become 21st-century prison colonies.”
Over many years, Labor in opposition was highly critical of the Coalition’s handling of issues dealing with illegal immigrants.
The Australian concept of a ‘fair go’ is a furphy — especially when it comes to tax, education and care — Julianne Schultz (Guardian Australia): Disappointment in the failure to realise the good ideals once promised in “the land of the fair go” have transferred from one generation to the next and are now informing the overwhelmingly progressive politics of those under 40. In raw political terms, Chalmers is right; younger voters will be the ones who will determine his future.
For years Australian policymakers and politicians thought they could square the circle: a market-driven economy with a robust social safety net. But that has become harder — the inexorable logic of the market is almost unstoppable, but so is the demand for public services.
