Australian Federal Government
Is it rebellious not to accept just anything and everything or is it prudent? Well, as the Marxist/Communists and other Leftist Loony elites push their totalitarian agenda and ‘As public trust in a coronavirus vaccine continues to wane, Facebook has ramped up its restrictions on vaccine criticism by banning all ads that discourage people from getting vaccinated.
Ads that advocate for or against legislation and government policies related to vaccines are still allowed but anything else that discourages vaccination will be rejected. While Facebook didn’t go into specifics, this ad ban will presumably prohibit ads that criticize vaccines or question the safety of vaccines.
Not only is Facebook banning ads that discourage people from getting vaccines but it’s also going to be inserting messages on US user’s timelines that tell them to get a flu shot.
Additionally, Facebook will be working with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on public messaging campaigns to increase vaccination rates. This work will involve monitoring discussions about vaccines on Facebook’s platforms and then using it to “build public trust in vaccines.”
Facebook wrote that its pilot vaccine messaging work with UNICEF across 10 countries has already shown that this information can be used to make Facebook users more trusting of vaccines.
“Building demand for vaccination in communities worldwide is key to saving lives,” wrote Diane Summers, a Senior Advisor for Vaccine Acceptance & Demand at UNICEF. “Our collaboration with Facebook is part of our efforts to address vaccine misinformation and share resonant and reassuring information on vaccination.”
Facebook’s amplification of pro-vaccine messaging, censorship of vaccine criticism, and attempts to change user sentiment so that it’s more favorable towards vaccines follows several other changes the platform has made to restrict content that questions or criticizes vaccines.
Last year, Facebook started redirecting searches about vaccines to pro-vaccine information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the WHO.
And last month, Facebook assured the Australian government that it was making it difficult for users to find content that’s skeptical of vaccines by removing groups and pages that spread “vaccine misinformation” from its search recommendations.
These efforts to boost pro-vaccine content while suppressing anything that opposes vaccines aren’t exclusive to Facebook. Twitter pushes pro-vaccine search results in Ireland and Pinterest’s search results are also filled with pro-vaccine posts.
Despite this aggressive push to eliminate vaccine skepticism on social media and frame vaccines as safe and effective, the general public is far from convinced. A recent Gallup poll revealed that the public’s willingness to get a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) backed COVID-19 vaccine has been falling since July and just 50% of Americans are now willing to get a vaccine.’https://reclaimthenet.org/facebook-bans-anti-vaccine-ads/
Here in New South Wales, Australia the state government is pouring millions if not billions into the unreliable renewables! Solar works when the sun shines and turbines when the wind blows! I know it and the politicians know it but they continue down this road to ruin. Just ‘Visit the Third World and you’ll quickly understand the importance of having power as and when you need it. In the Western World, an obsession with chaotically intermittent wind and solar will save you the trip.
Wind and solar ‘powered’ South Australians and Californians know all about Third World power supplies – with routine rationing, load shedding and mass blackouts part and parcel of their efforts to run on sunshine and breezes.
In Britain, power consumers are about to get their very own taste of mass power rationing, of a kind that’s more familiar to Cubans and North Koreans.
The grid manager is going to use household Smart Meters to cut the power off, whenever wind and solar output collapses.’ More detail on how the UK is in relation to this stupidity at https://stopthesethings.com/2020/10/09/energy-unplugged-government-plans-to-cut-your-power-whenever-wind-solar-output-collapses/
What is the responsibility of todays politicians? Is it to ruin the electricity grid so bad that the contemporary comforts of life MUST be abandoned?
‘Once upon a time Australians enjoyed reliable and affordable power, but that was before heavily subsidised and chaotically intermittent wind and solar entered the scene.
Over the last few summers, Australians have been treated to power rationing and load shedding, as well as the odd mass blackout. These events have an uncanny correlation with dead calm days/nights and sunset that coincides with bursts of warm weather and rising mercury.
Summer heatwaves are part and parcel of Australian life.
Over the last four or five decades, though, an increasing number of Australians have enjoyed the benefit of reverse cycle air-conditioning, warming homes in winter and taking the ferocity out of their often-blistering summers.
Now Australians are being told to turn off their air conditioners and/or to leave home and go back to work in order to keep the grid from a total ‘system black’.’ There is more at STT on this so be sure to go there and read it and like as well. https://stopthesethings.com/2020/10/07/sweating-it-renewable-energy-crisis-means-australians-cant-run-air-conditioners-during-heatwaves/
Now, on a New South Wales government web site we, the lowly citizen, are told how we can save energy and money.
‘At Anytime
Use less hot water.
Have shorter showers. (Even if really dirty?)
Check energy rating labels when buying new appliances.
Upgrade your home insulation, windows and blinds to heat-proof your house.
Switch off appliances at the wall to use one to five percent less energy.
Switch off lights when you leave a room. (I remember this from when a child in the 40’s and 50’s.)
In summer
Use fans instead of air conditioning. (I am old enough to remember when window air conditioning was the new thing. We have PROGRESSERD now to where the POLITICIANS want us to shut them off!)
If you use an air conditioner, each degree warmer on the thermostat can save you 10%. (One wonders if the politicians offices are kept this way!)
Closing gaps and cracks around the house can save you $50 a year.
‘Zone’ your home by cooling one part of your house and cut down on cooling in other areas.
Close curtains and blinds during the day.
Cross-ventilation and open windows in the evening allow for natural breezes. (Oh, the NATURAL breeze flowing through the house along with the flying bugs etc.)
In winter
By day, let natural light in.
Close curtains and doors at night.
‘Zone’ your home by warming the rooms you use the most.
Use door snakes to stop draughts.
Rug up and use blankets. (Oh, the blankets! PILE them on to keep warm. One wonders how many blankets the politician’s family has to keep warm?)’https://energysaver.nsw.gov.au/households/fine-tune-your-home/free-ways-save-energy-and-money
These Australian politicians have ruined the energy grid and have no plan to rebuild it. We had better get online and learn how to live the Amish way!
The Climate scammers HATE coal therefore those at Stop These Things ‘… promotes nuclear power because it works: safe, affordable and reliable it’s the perfect foil for those obsessed about carbon dioxide gas – because it doesn’t generate any, while generating power on demand.
One of the feeble ‘arguments’ against it, is that nuclear power plants are of such vast scale that they take longer to build than the pyramids of Giza, and cost twice as much.
That argument has been given short shrift in the US, where NuScale has just won approval for one its small modular reactor’s designs, with big implications for power generation in the future.
Australia is, astonishingly, the only country in the OECD that does not have (and has never had) the benefit of nuclear power generation (it banned it 20 years ago) -notwithstanding that it is the world’s third largest uranium exporter and holds reserves that will outlast religion.
Tony Grey was the founder and chief executive of Pancontinental Mining Ltd, which discovered the Jabiluka uranium orebody. He also was chairman of the Uranium Institute (formerly the World Nuclear Association).
Tony makes the obvious case for nuclear power in Australia, by thinking small.
Takeaway nuclear reactors could help power our nation
The Australian
Tony Grey
30 September 2020
An artist’s impression of a small modular reactor (SMR)
Scott Morrison in his recent national energy address — given symbolically at the Tomago aluminium smelter in NSW that is beset by soaring energy costs — enunciated three guiding objectives for energy policy, including ensuring “a resilient energy system through a balanced mix of technologies”.
The growing consensus is that Australia eventually will ditch its largest and most reliable source of energy, coal, on which it has depended for 100 years or more. We’ll need baseload energy sources if we’re to maintain living standards. Yet the only logical replacement for coal is nuclear, which offers emissions-free and reliable baseload capacity. It is used in 31 countries and supplies 11 per cent of the world’s electricity (15 per cent in Canada, 20 per cent in the US, 70 per cent in France) with 13 countries building capacity.
Nuclear technology has changed dramatically during the past decade, a point acknowledged by the Member for Fairfax, Ted O’Brien, who chaired last year’s parliamentary committee inquiring into the possibility of using nuclear power, but ignored by its opponents.
The two most dramatic advances have been in waste disposal and the development of small modular reactors. The waste issue has been the greatest barrier in Australia to consideration of nuclear and the excuse used by most opponents to silence supporters. Finland, which has four nuclear reactors and is building a fifth to replace its coal-fired generation, has solved the waste issue while proving a good example for Australia in dealing with this issue.
Finnish waste management company Posiva announced a “significant building services agreement” as part of a series of contracts already concluded relating to the construction of a nuclear waste disposal facility on Finland’s west coast.
Using a version of the vitrification technology developed in France — and refined in other parts of the world including Australia with its Synroc technology — the waste will be incorporated into borosilicate, a glass impervious to water, the problematic mobilising agent that must be thwarted. It will then be encased in metal canisters and deposited deep underground in granite bedrock that has been free of tectonic movement for millions of years and is forecast to remain stable for many millions of years to come.
Posiva already has received in-principle approval from the Finnish parliament and a construction licence from the government. The local community of about 10,000, which has been extensively consulted, supports it. The way is clear for completing the construction, securing an operating licence and commissioning the repository by 2023.
The Finns are confident it will prove to the world once and for all that high-level nuclear waste can be handled safely and permanently.
The world is moving quickly towards development of small modular reactors. Defined as having a capacity of less than 300 megawatts — but some as small as 5MW — these reactors are built in factories to standard designs and can be placed in line to provide larger capacities.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has just issued Nu Scale Power, the leading American company in the field, with a final safety evaluation report, the first for an American SMR. Four Canadian provinces have joined in support for the development of SMRs.
A few months ago Russia commissioned a floating nuclear power plant that carries two 35MW reactors. It is now connected to the grid.
China is building its version of an SMR in Hainan province. The chief engineer of China’s State Power Investment Corporation told the World Nuclear Association’s annual conference this month: “We also use modular construction, with a shorter construction period, and this has enhanced economic performance.”
The chief executive of GE-Hitachi, one of the leading providers of advanced reactors, said at that conference the flexibility of SMRs means they will be able to support a variety of activities beyond electricity generation, providing cost-competitive and environmentally friendly power for uses such as hydrogen production, desalination, district heating and industrial use.
SMRs would be ideal for us. They are readily transportable and ideal for regional areas. They can be placed quickly in sites where coal-fired plants have been decommissioned, connecting to the existing grid and replacing the baseload capacity. But Australia sits paralysed, with no baseload options for the future, while the nuclear world moves on apace.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor has put nuclear on a “watching brief” in his “technology roadmap”. At least he hasn’t ruled it out.
John Maynard Keynes gave Australians a rationale for a rethink on nuclear with that famous remark: “When the facts change, I change my mind.”’https://stopthesethings.com/2020/10/04/from-little-things-big-things-grow-australias-nuclear-powered-future-starts-with-smrs/
Politicians MUST live in another world. If they did live where others live why would they push such non-sense as renewables as the answer for energy efficiency and lower power bills? Oh, they want to save the planet! Well, higher power bills will will save energy because electricity will be too costly to use but it still will not save the planet!
Nevertheless, politicians continue to push renewables every chance they get repeating the mantra we the consumers will save money in our bill. That’s not true at least for the power company we use which charges MORE for ‘Green Energy’! On the power company’s web site it tells the consumer ‘Add green energyYou can offset your carbon footprint by adding GreenPower or Green Gas to your account. For electricity, it’ll cost from 65 cents extra a week. For natural gas, it’s just $1 extra on all residential plans.0%25%50%100%Electricityextra 2.8c/kWh (incl GST)’ https://www.originenergy.com.au/electricity-gas/plans.html
Oh, I can offset my carbon footprint by paying MORE money! Yet, the New South Wales government tells the consumer they are ‘increasing affordability by reducing wholesale electricity costs’.https://energy.nsw.gov.au/renewables/renewable-energy-zones#-why-is-the-nsw-government-delivering-renewable-energy-zones- These people know how to lie with a straight face!
Here in New South Wales Matt Kean is the Minister for Energy and Environment. He is a BIG pusher of the climate scam renewables. In June of this year Kean said “We have some of the best renewable resources you’ll find anywhere on the planet,” Matt Kean tells RenewEconomy in the latest episode of the weekly Energy Insiders podcast. “We’ve got great sun. We’ve got great wind. And guess what? We’ve got the ability to have a lot of pumped hydro.
“So we’re well placed to be an energy superpower. The flow on effect from that means cheaper bills for consumers. Cheaper bills for business (and) more opportunities here. And the creation of jobs with businesses that are energy intensive.
“If they’re looking for a global competitive advantage when it comes to low cost energy, we can provide it, but we’ve got to move quickly and we’ve got to move now. And that is an opportunity for us to be an economic superpower, not just an energy superpower, an economic superpower. And it’s too big an opportunity not to grab.”
It’s a theme that is catching on in the conservative side of politics in Australia, not that you’d notice from reading the mainstream media.
Kean, of course, is a Liberal MP in the conservative Berejiklian government in NSW, and his views are shared by the Tasmania Liberal government, which has an aim of reaching 200 per cent renewables within 20 years so it can export the surplus to the mainland, or attract clean industries to its state; and the South Australia Liberal government, which wants to reach net 100 per cent renewables by 2030, and also become a renewable export superpower, exporting to neighbouring states and other countries.
It’s not something that you hear much about in the federal Coalition, or even the Liberal and LNP state oppositions in Victoria and Queensland, but Kean says you simply can’t ignore the science, and you can’t ignore global trends.
“The world is moving in this direction. Fifty three per cent of the world’s GDP has signed up to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. So it’s only going in one direction,” Kean says.
“You’d imagine if the Democrats take the White House, then that final domino will fall and it will turbo-charge the world’s move towards zero emissions. We’ve got two choices here, as far as I can see. We can set ourselves up for success …. be a prosperous nation where jobs are created here domestically and our wealth is created here domestically, or we can stick our head in the sand, ignore the global reality that is occurring.
“As far as I’m concerned, there is only one way to go, and that is to modernise the grid, deliver cheap, reliable energy and set ourselves up to be an energy and economic superpower in a low carbon economy.”’https://reneweconomy.com.au/kean-says-nsw-can-be-renewable-energy-superpower-or-stick-its-head-in-the-sand-50892/
As I said earlier. these people do not live in the real world. Kean would live to see Biden win because Biden would ruin the USA via renewables! Now, the above article motivated me to write to my state and Federal members who are both in the supposedly conservative National Party. I wrote:
‘Dear Member,
Do you agree with this statement made by Matt Kean in June of this year?
“The world is moving in this direction. Fifty three per cent of the world’s GDP has signed up to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. So it’s only going in one direction,” Kean says.
“You’d imagine if the Democrats take the White House, then that final domino will fall and it will turbo-charge the world’s move towards zero emissions. We’ve got two choices here, as far as I can see. We can set ourselves up for success …. be a prosperous nation where jobs are created here domestically and our wealth is created here domestically, or we can stick our head in the sand, ignore the global reality that is occurring.” Kean says NSW can be renewable energy superpower, or stick its head in the sand
Whether you agree or not tell me how the Coalition really differs from the Labor/Greens on this net zero emission by 2050! AT LEAST IN THE LAST ELECTION LABOR WAS UP FRONT AND WENT TO THE ELECTION WITH THE ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2050 WHEREAS THE COALITION TOOK COAL INTO PARLIAMENT!’
Do I really expect anything to change when these politicians are ‘following the science’?
Politicians MUST not pay their own electric bill or they would see how much electricity has risen since the climate scam scare. Here in Australia we have our ‘…former PM, Malcolm Turnbull to thank for its largest and most expensive renewable energy boondoggle, the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project.
Touted by the patrician and aloof Turnbull and his hapless sidekick, Josh Frydenberg as the Nation’s mega-battery, the heavily-hyped pumped hydro scheme (shelved in the 1970s because it was uneconomic then) has been heralded as the saviour for the Australian wind and large-scale solar ‘industries’.
The line goes something like this: if we use 3 MWh of wind or solar power to pump water through 27 km of tunnels, over an elevation of 900m, later, when power consumers actually need it, Snowy Hydro could return 2 MWh to the grid.
Never mind squandering 1/3 of the electricity originally generated; never mind that with the inclusion of the $85 per MWh REC the cost of the wind or solar power involved exceeds $110 per MWh; never mind that the owners of Snowy 2.0 will charge a further $150-300 per MWh to re-deliver power to the grid; never mind that, in reality, the power used to pump the water uphill will largely come from coal-fired power plants, delivered overnight when it’s cheapest. For a break down of the costs and engineering of what’s proposed see our post: Turnbull Plays ‘The Man from Snowy River’ in Uncosted Pumped Hydro Plan
Whether or not Turnbull was simply out to protect his son, Alex’s investment in Australia’s most notorious wind power outfit, Infigen is a moot point: Born Lucky: Stars Align Perfectly for PM’s Son with Mammoth Bet on Wind Power Outfit Infigen
But one thing is for certain, the numbers on Snowy 2.0 simply don’t stack up.
And, according to a group of scientists and renewable energy boffins, nor do its environmental credentials.’https://stopthesethings.com/2020/09/30/all-uphill-australia-squanders-10billion-on-giant-pumped-hydro-power-white-elephant/
Now that Turnbull is gone the present government isn’t doing much better when it comes to energy. The so-called conservative Coalition government continues down the path to destruction via so-called renewables. The citizens only hope is at the next election there will be a real change for the better.
Government creates the problem and then creates a solution to that problem. Yes, ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.’ Due to the government handling of the China virus businesses are or will be going broke. However, the government which created the fiasco has the answer.
‘Small businesses will be protected from needlessly being wound up under changes to be announced by the Morrison government on Sept. 24.
The reforms to be unveiled by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will cover around three-quarters of businesses subject to insolvencies today.
They will draw on key features of the “Chapter 11” bankruptcy code used in the United States.
Key elements of the reforms include:
* The introduction of a new debt restructuring process for incorporated businesses with liabilities of less than $1 million
* Moving from a one-size-fits-all “creditor in possession” model to a more flexible “debtor in possession” model, allowing eligible small businesses to restructure existing debts while remaining in control of their business
* A period of 20 business days to develop a restructuring plan by a small business restructuring practitioner, followed by 15 business days for creditors to vote on the plan
* A simplified liquidation pathway for small businesses
* Red tape cuts for the insolvency sector.
The changes follow the extension earlier this month of temporary insolvency and bankruptcy protections to support small businesses impacted by the COVID crisis.
As the temporary relief expires at the end of December, the number of companies being put into external administration is expected to increase.
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe warned of the wave of business failures in August.
“There will be insolvencies. There will be bankruptcies. There will be some businesses that will not recover. That’s the harsh reality of an economic downturn that’s the worst in 100 years,” he told parliament’s economics committee.
The longer-term reforms are earmarked to start on January 1, subject to parliament passing legislation.
“These are the most significant reforms to Australia’s insolvency framework in almost 30 years, and will help to keep more businesses in business and Australians in jobs,” Frydenberg said.
He said the government was also providing support totalling $314 billion to cushion the blow for households and businesses as part of its economic recovery plan.’https://www.theepochtimes.com/insolvency-reforms-to-help-aussie-small-businesses_3512306.html
When the sun shines and the wind blows all just might go well for those who believe these two ‘renewables’ will provide the energy the nation needs to survive. However, the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. So when that occurs what then?
Well, government knows best so what do they do?
‘The Australian Government today announced new long term funding and an expanded focus for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency that will secure its future beyond 2022.
The Prime Minister and Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction today announced a total funding package of $1.62 billion for ARENA including guaranteed baseline funding of $1.43 billion over the next ten years.’https://arena.gov.au/news/arena-welcomes-new-funding/
More tax dollars thrown down the Climate Scam Hole!
Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
One might get the idea that the Department of Education just may be about EDUCATION! Well, not so when it comes to the New South Wales department of Education led by Mark Scott. It seems Mark thinks PC race identity culture MUST be involved. People must be divided into tribes such as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. It was on Thursday, 31 January 2019, that ‘Mark Scott and two members of the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Working Group, Claire Beattie and Darren Bell, launched the department’s first Reconciliation Action Plan for corporate staff.’ https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/strategies-and-reports/our-reconciliation-action-plan/reconciliation-action-plan/secretary-mark-scott-officially-launches-the-reconciliation-action-plan
The following is a transcript of that meeting. It is LONG but please NOTE that Clair Beattie, one of the panel, says that Australia will always be Aboriginal land. Even though you as a non-Aboriginal may have paid with your own money for the land it is not yours but it belongs to the Aboriginals. What race baiting propaganda via the NSW Department of Education. Throughout the following I will highlight certain sections as well as making some of my own remarks.
‘Good afternoon everybody, I’m Mark Scott, Secretary of the New South Wales Department of Education. Joining me today are Claire Beattie and Darren Bell, and they’re members of the department’s Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group. Can I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet. The custodians, the Gadigal people of Eora Nation and pay my respect to Elders past and present, and acknowledge the continuing contribution and connection to this land.
Claire Beattie
I’d like to welcome everyone and acknowledge that no matter where you’re meeting today, that you’re meeting on Aboriginal land. Always has been, always will be Aboriginal land.
Darren Bell
I’m a Ngunnawal/Yuinman. My family comes from Yass and the south coast of New South Wales. I’d like to pay my respects to our Elders, and our mob and say thank you to them for their continual custodianship of our cultures, our lands and our waterways.
Mark Scott
So let me talk a little bit about what we’re up to this afternoon. We’re launching the Department of Education’s first Reconciliation Action Plan, and it’s a plan for our corporate staff. So what we’re going to do this afternoon is to talk a little bit about the origins of the plan, why we’re doing it, what we hope to achieve from it and what comes next. So I’m really pleased this afternoon to be able to launch the department’s first RAP, our first Reconciliation Action Plan, and it talks about our commitment to diversity, to inclusion and to advancing reconciliation. And it gives us some practical steps, some practical actions which are going to drive our contribution to reconciliation.
The focus of this first plan is for our staff who work in corporate offices. Our corporate staff, our corporate officers and the partnerships that we have, and it’s going to lay the foundation in the department for reconciliation initiatives and we’re going to develop successive plans in the years to come with an increased focus on schools and the communities in which we serve. You can see on the screen there, a copy of this plan which has been developed in consultation with our staff and the broader community, that’s going to be the centrepiece of our work in the year ahead.
Let me talk a little bit about the first RAP that we are developing. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking and talking about this, and it’s important to remember that the RAP is an ongoing process for an organisation like us. And it provides us with an opportunity to think about what this is like as a place of work and to challenge ourselves so that we have a deep, rich cultural understanding and cultural insight. It’s important that as a department, we have that. Because we want to have deeper insight, deeper understanding deeper commitment and deeper respect.
I was very keen to develop a RAP when I joined the department from my time running the ABC. (Scott worked at the ABC which is a far Left leaning Australian Federal government supported broadcasting organization. This left leaning Marxist organization received over one billion dollars per year to spouth their Marxist agenda on the Australian people) At the ABC, we’d struggled in a number of areas, I think, in working with our Aboriginal staff, we’d failed to make key targets that we’d set on employment. And the transformational event for us in all these things was the development of the RAP. It gave us some clear targets, it gave us some clear challenges, but it forces us to think about ourselves as an organisation. About what we were like as a place to work, whether we had deep cultural insight, whether we had cultural safety. As we focused on ourselves a bit and the kinds of organisation that we were and what we wanted to be, it was amazing that we started to deliver on all those targets as well. (Scott has now divided the ABC into a tribal culture and will now work on doing the same at the NSW Department of Education)
I found it very powerful, and it was an idea I brought with me to the department. (Scott is now promoting this tribalism from the ABC to the NSW Education Department. Where are the politicians with common sense and backbone on this? Are they all asleep?) As you’d know, all around the country, major corporations and organisations like us have reconciliation action plans that are developed with Reconciliation Australia to help us reflect and to think about the kind of organisation we are, the kind of organisation we want to be and the kind of outcomes that we want to achieve for the broader community, for the organisation itself and the outcomes that we want to be able to deliver. So I saw that the important part of this plan was to start with us, to reflect on us and to think about the kind of organisation we are and that’s the start of this journey.
So what are some measures of success that we’ve identified in this our first Reconciliation Action Plan? You’ll see some of them are up there on your screen. We’re focused on employment. We want to exceed the Premier’s Priority target for doubling the number of Aboriginal people in senior leadership roles by 2025, and we want to see 3% of senior leadership roles filled by Aboriginal staff (Not whether a person is qualified or not but the tribe they identify with). We want to support and increase the number of Aboriginal people working in all positions across our department, and we want to think very creatively and deliberatively as to how we do that, how we make this a great place to work for our Aboriginal staff and how we’re providing outstanding professional opportunities to build a great career with us here in the Department of Education. (Where does a non-identifying person fit into all this? Identity race culture at its height of insanity.)
You know, we’re a big and important institution in this state. We’re probably the biggest employer in this state, so when we do things, we can make an impact. (Yes, as the biggest, because we are government, we can impact society with their own money. Communism at work!) So we want to be supporting Aboriginal- owned businesses in New South Wales. So we’re saying we want to award Aboriginal-owned businesses at least 3% of domestic contracts for goods and services issued by the department by 2021. And when you get a big organisation like us, with the kind of budget we have, that 3%, we think, can make an enormous difference to Aboriginal-owned businesses all around New South Wales (Race bait culture).
Finally and very importantly, we recognise our leadership position in this community. So for the department to be focused on national reconciliation makes an impact on the future of this nation as far as national reconciliation is concerned. No organisation is more involved in shaping the future of Australia than the New South Wales Department of Education – 810,000 students in our schools. The largest educator in the country. The future of Australia has been determined by the New South Wales Department of Education. So as we develop this RAP and then roll the activities from future RAPs into schools, what a profound impact we can have on the challenge and the importance of national reconciliation (No wonder those coming out of the education system in this age are left leaning socialists).
We talk a lot about reconciliation, it’s there in the plan, we talk about it a lot, but as an Aboriginal man, Darren, what does reconciliation mean to you?
Darren Bell
It means acknowledging past wrongs and actions. (This means white man wrongs and actions. This is the white supremacy lie in the department of education!)Because when you say sorry for something, you never do it again. And that’s what I think we need to remember, basically. (Former PM Rudd began a Sorry Day and that isn’t enough!)
Mark Scott
We need to start by that point of reflection. And part of the work that we’ll be doing as part of this RAP is reflecting, coming to deeper points of understanding ourselves (More reflection on whiteness and all the bad things that come with that whiteness!). And I’ll come back and ask you in a minute where future RAPs go on the back of this. Claire, we’ve run a consultation process to this point. I mean, we had the idea of a brand new RAP, but then went and talked with our staff and talked with stakeholders. Take us through a little bit of what that consultation process has involved.
Claire Beattie
Thank you, Mark. I’m really delighted that over 2,000 of our corporate staff have engaged thus far in our journey in RAP. You’ve joined us in mass voices like today, thank you for coming, and joining, and listening. You’ve joined us for cinema events. Some people have joined us for our Aboriginal network events. We’ve also had discussions via email to the RAP inbox. We’ve also had surveys.
One of the most interesting parts of this journey was what people said about what they expect to see in the RAP in our statement. You’ll notice the RAP statement encompasses all of the feedback we had, and some of the key messages we had was around mutual respect, integrity, cultural safety. So you’ll see that featured in the RAP as well.
I’m really proud of the journey we’ve been on, and I think we’ve walked really mindfully together, and we’ve really taken our time with listening and having really honest conversations. So I thank you for coming on this journey. It’s not finished yet. As we’ve said, there’s more steps to go. But really, there’s over 600 people online right now joining this conversation. So it’s really exciting.
Mark Scott
You talk about walking together. Explain that a little bit more. What does that mean?
Claire Beattie
I think it’s really important that we’ve paced this, that we haven’t sprinted off in a direction. Everyone is on a different part of their journey for reconciliation. Some people are new to the journey, they’ve just stepped in. They might not know a lot about Aboriginal culture or the history that we’ve had with the department (This whole reconciliation is leading the Aboriginal back into their paganism. The Dreamtime is pagan and the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ brought many out of darkness and into the light of the Lord Jesus Christ). Some people have grown up Aboriginal. Some people believe in reconciliation, some people are sceptical.
We’re all at different parts of our journey, so there’s no point in sprinting ahead and leaving people behind. We have to be patient, we have to be mindful, we have to have mutual respect and have really open conversations. One of the uncles, Uncle Greg, who’s a Darug Elder, actually talks about the reason why pianos have black and white keys, and the reason why they make beautiful music is because you play both black and white keys. So I think it’s really important that all of us come together on this journey towards reconciliation.
Mark Scott
So it’s a great opportunity, in a sense, to reset the relationship, to come to deeper understanding, establish greater respect and insight, and then to roll that into some really practical steps and strategies so we want to work our way through. We’ve had some key themes that have emerged through the consultation, and then we roll that into practical steps, because we want this to be a living blueprint. I hope that this RAP becomes really one of the very important documents, a cornerstone document of the Department of Education.
A year ago, we launched the strategic plan. I said, “I wanted that to be a living document”, and whenever I go on to schools and talking with school leaders, I’m discussing the strategic plan, and I feel it is a living document, I get it quoted back at me all the time. I want the RAP to be a living document as well, and I want you to be able to read it and to access it, and to think about what you’re doing in your corporate office, whereever you work in the department to advance the principles of the RAP and to deliver on the strategies that are outlined (Can you imagine this seems to be one of the MOST important items in the Education Department).
So let me talk a little bit about the first actions that we’re going to have as part of this RAP. The RAP as you will see, is backed up by 12 concrete actions and 52 deliverables that we’ve identified, and they’re centred around four key themes: relationships, respect, opportunities and governance. And with these themes and actions and deliverables and lots of hard work, we really want to see the development of positive two-way relationships based on trust.
We want to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and rights valued and recognised. And we really want to be a great diversified workforce that reflects the communities we serve and is really growing the state’s first economy in a very practical and supportive way. In doing all this, we want to continue the important work we do with the AECG. For 40 years or more, the AECG has been an important partner of the Department of Education. They help us grow our insight, and to grow our effectiveness on the ground and working with community, and also helping to serve Aboriginal students and improve their wellbeing and their educational outcomes. In the year ahead, we want to work closely with the AECG to forge a new agreement with them so there can be a pathway to further partnership in the decade ahead.
Darren, we’ve got this RAP document, and I encourage people to find it, to find it online, to read and think about how we’re going to make it real in the department. What comes next? It’s great to have a document, but where does it go from here?
Darren Bell
I think one of our big articles is truth telling. We need to, like I mentioned before, acknowledge what’s happened in the past, and things like that, and ensuring that it doesn’t happen again. I think that’s a big factor in how we move forward.
Mark Scott
What do you mean by truth telling?
Darren Bell
The department had a policy called the Clean, cut and courteous policy where if a non-Aboriginal family didn’t want an Aboriginal student in their school, they can have them removed, basically. And clean, cut and courteous so you had to be, obviously, clean, cut and presentable, and courteous, and not be rude and things like that. So non-Aboriginal family didn’t want a student in a class or in the school like that, they could have them removed. That’s the sort of thing that not a lot… I’m sure a lot of people watching right now wouldn’t know that, and it still affects people who are alive today who had to undergo that policy.
Mark Scott
Including parents and grandparents.
Darren Bell
Absolutely, yeah. That sort of stuff can have quite a long-lasting effect on people, and their self-worth, and all that sort of stuff. So we need to acknowledge that sort of thing, that that actually did happen and this department did implement them at one stage. Thankfully, obviously, they’re gone now, but… (They are gone BUT! Never enough! There is always something the white people have done that needs to be corrected)
Mark Scott
So you’ve got to deal with that stuff?
Darren Bell
You got to deal with that stuff, yeah. I mean, it’s part of the healing process as well, I believe. With this RAP, we’ve instigated… Well, not instigated, it’s a bit of a harsh word, but we’ve implemented, I should say, a network, an Aboriginal corporate staff network. At that network, we had a barbecue. That was our inaugural type of thing. We had a barbecue last December, and we had our colleagues from all different state offices around Sydney come along. So we made some new friends, met up with some old friends and had some yarns. The yarns were about truth telling and things like that, that’s what we need to do, and cultural awareness training for our leaders in the department, so for our managers, and our directors, and our secretaries and dep secs. Hopefully, that would filter down to them bringing it into their teams, and overall, the department would undergo cultural awareness training. Because it’s not just about…You need to make the department a culturally safe place to work, and that benefits everyone, I think. So with our next RAP, it’s called the Innovate RAP, and that will be developed over the next two years. And we want people to walk with us on that journey. It’s a two-way street and we want people to walk with us on that journey.
Mark Scott
So opportunities this year, for cultural awareness training (The tax payer dollars pay for this CULTURE AWARENESS TRAINING!) and the executive did do a day and a half of cultural awareness training in partnership with the AECG and with leaders from our schools who came and spoke with us. And I think I can say, for every member of the executive team, it was an absorbing, a fascinating, a challenging and confronting conversation and experience. And I think many of us would have thought, we’ve done this kind of thing before. I was just amazed at what I learnt from that experience, and the challenges that came on the back of that. To actually use that insight to help make this a great place for all our staff to work. An inclusive place, a supportive place, a place where we can really lead the community and then the responsibility you have to the generations to come who are in our care every day. So we launch this RAP now for the corporate staff. Then the Innovate RAP comes in a year’s time, where the truth telling will be more a feature of that. And then, on we go with more ambitious targets and absolute clarity about the outcomes that we’re trying to achieve.
That’s the story of this RAP document. I’d encourage you, as I said, to take a look at it. There’s beautiful artwork on the front of it. And this is done by a student in one of our schools, Suzanna from Boggabilla Central School. She’s from the Gamilaraay Country, and we’re having this artwork framed. It will be featured in a prominent place at 105 Phillip Street, our Parramatta office. Some of you have already been online. Excuse me as I reach over to find the tough questions. I’ll be answering easy questions.
Mark Scott
These guys will be answering the tough questions. A really good question has come through here about Aboriginal catering companies. Great idea, but where do you start, how do you find an Aboriginal catering company?
Claire Beattie
On the intranet, live at the moment, you’ll find the RAP hub. Where it has a lot of FAQs including where to find Aboriginal catering companies, Aboriginal suppliers. It’s really important, as Mark said, that we’ve made a commitment to support Aboriginal businesses. And as we are such a massive organisation and a massive buyer of things, if we did meet that KPI of 3% of buying from Aboriginal businesses, it really would help Aboriginal economic prosperity as well. Please do check out the RAP hub, it’s live now.
Mark Scott
And Darren, where do we find more information? If I’m an Aboriginal member of staff and I want to join the network, how do I go about doing that?
Darren Bell
So what we’re looking at doing is setting up a little working group in the initial stages. Develop initiatives that we want to involve with our Aboriginal colleagues. We are looking at things like even having a social media page for the network, so people can engage in that way and talk to each other. Which is obviously, find it a lot easier to do it that way. Because I think we need this network especially because I don’t know how many of my colleagues are Aboriginal in the department, and especially in 105 Phillip Street. I sent a little broadcast email asking staff to see who’s Aboriginal. I’ve got quite a few responses which I’m really happy about. So we’re going to develop this network so we can keep abreast of these sort of things, and contribute ideas for the next RAP.
Mark Scott
And even opportunities, I guess, for staff, they might not be sure that they want to connect with the network or identify, just to even talk through some of those issues with you or other members of staff.
Darren Bell
Absolutely, yeah.
Mark Scott
A question’s come through here from Tracy. What does success look like to me, or what does a successful RAP look like?
I think it’s multifaceted. Finally, finally… What I really want to do is transform the future of Australia by shaping the lives of the young people that are in our care (DO THE PARENTS OF THE CHILDREN WHO ARE ATTENDING THESE SCHOOLS KNOW THE INTENT OF ALL THIS?). One of the things that we all must be desperate to do is to ensure that Aboriginal students in our schools have learning outcomes that are the same as any child in our care.
The gap that currently exists now is untenable, and unacceptable, and is an indictment of what has been offered by this country to young Aboriginal people. So finally, you want to fix that. But you don’t just fix that by focusing on that, you’ve actually got to be the right kind of organisation to do that. And so, I see a reconciliation, I see a cultural safety, I see the kinds of staff we can recruit and keep are all about us being the right kind of organisation to be able to deliver those results that we really fundamentally want.
But we’re a leading institution in the country and we should be leading and modelling reconciliation. Modelling being a great place to work. Modelling cultural insight and understanding and achieving extraordinary things for the young Aboriginal people in our care, in our schools. So that’s all. That’s a long journey, but you start by this kind of process that we got starting now, and we don’t rest here, as you’ve heard, we keep moving, and we keep advancing, and next year, we’ll be back with a new plan. Lots of people are asking where they can get cultural awareness training. How are we going to offer that?
Darren Bell
As far as I know, the AECG can help offer it. Like you said, you undertook the training yourself. There are other organisations. I actually see commercials on SBS, how they do it and the company that they use, things like that. But we do have, of course.
Claire Beattie
I invite people to write in into the RAP inbox. If they want to run with cultural awareness training, we’ve got a whole set of providers from the amazing Mick Gooda’s of the world; Flick Ryan, a few others that we do use that have been phenomenal in taking our staff through the journey. And it’s an emotional journey, so people have to be ready for that. There is truth telling on that journey, it can be uncomfortable. But at the end of it, it does create a more inclusive, a more welcoming workplace for all of us to come to a mutual understanding. So if you are interested in doing cultural awareness training, please write into the RAP inbox or go to the RAP hub.
Mark Scott
Just a couple more questions, and then, it’s going to be cake time. So I’ll come to the cake in a minute. Questions come through on the AECG, I did reference them earlier. Has the AECG been involved and consulted on the RAP?
We have reached out to the AECG and briefed them on this process, they wished us well on this, but we look forward to really working closely with the AECG, particularly around a new engagement and a new arrangement with them, a new undertaking with them that takes us through the years ahead. They are very very important partners in all the work we’re doing with Aboriginal students in our schools, and their network is very, very powerful and very important all around the state. Finally, I think this is just a question about… You know, it’s an education department. Why aren’t schools involved in this process? So where do schools fit in to this work?
Claire Beattie
Eventually, obviously, we will welcome schools into this conversation. I think our corporate area was a great place to start, it’s a smaller group, but it’s also a group that we can start cultural awareness training without upsetting and taking them off their job which is to be in front of students, making sure every student is known, and valued and cared for. Also, I think it was an opportunity to really engage with executive in the corporate area as well and ensure that we’re going from the top-down, it was led by you.
I can also say, Mark, and I hope that we don’t embarrass you by saying this, but how amazing it is to have a Secretary come in and say… You’ve brought it from the ABC with you, but you’ve also stood in front of this and said, “We must have this” for the reasons that you’ve just unpacked. For us, I think it’s been really refreshing to know that we have your support on this journey, and to know that from the top-down, you’re for reconciliation and you really do support the idea of having a culturally safe environment for Aboriginal people (What government leader allows money and time to be spent on this race identity PC propaganda?).
Mark Scott
And I think that’s what we all aspire to, and we know as we do that, it changes us, changes this organisation. And if you change this organisation, you change the future of the country (There it is. Changing the country! What kind of change do you think Mr. Scott means?).
Claire Beattie
Absolutely.
Mark Scott
As you said, Darren, this is a torrid, and difficult, and painful history. We need to learn from that, and understand that, and build a wonderful future for our kids and build a better Australia as a consequence of this. So thanks for your time this afternoon. I bring exciting news if you are in one of our larger regional offices, because there is cake there for you, just as there is cake here for us. Wonderful colours and the artwork that Suzanna has done which adorns the RAP is on the cake.
So I’m going to ask my two colleagues here, who have been on the RAP working party, to cut the cake. I also want to thank all members of that working party who worked so hard to wrestle down the complexities of the issues. It’s easy for me to say this is an idea, then the hard work starts. I want to thank Meg Montgomery and the team that she led to get us to this point. We’re really celebrating the start with the launch of the RAP. They’re exciting days ahead, challenges ahead, and hopefully, great outcomes for our kids and our nation as well. So please cut the cake and enjoy your afternoon. Thanks for being with us.
Claire Beattie
Thank you.
Darren Bell
Thank you. Do it together?
Mark Scott
Do it together.
Claire Beattie
Yes. Let’s do it. Thanks everyone.’https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/strategies-and-reports/our-reconciliation-action-plan/reconciliation-action-plan/secretary-mark-scott-officially-launches-the-reconciliation-action-plan
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