INVESTIGATION
CHINESE INFLUENCE
Chinese billionaire seeking citizenship paid lobbyist for lunch with Peter Dutton
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is facing questions after it emerged Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo paid a former Liberal minister at least $10,000 to meet with him.
Malcolm Turnbull says PM must 'deal with' Peter Dutton China allegations - The Guardian
Chinese donor had help from Liberal Party director, met Christopher Pyne - The Sydney Morning Herald
Malcolm Turnbull says PM must 'deal with' Peter Dutton China allegations - The Guardian
Chinese donor had help from Liberal Party director, met Christopher Pyne - The Sydney Morning Herald
Daily Telegraph - 24 minutes ago
NSW election: ads war as media pitches battle for Chinese vote
The Australian
You know our democracy is dire when each side of politics calls the other a liar – how can citizens feel anything but contempt? So thanks Sharman Stone for listing positive changes Australia should make (‘‘Dream of the nation you want, then take it to the polling booth’’, April 8). But our dreadful two-party system blocks sensible change at every turn. You cite other, fairer countries, so it follows, that instead of more endless hand-wringing and hopelessness, our journalists put before us other models of fairness and inclusion where citizens express pride in their democracy and we work from there for change. If we have nothing but contempt for politicians, then our citizens will drift into populism, apathy and eventually anarchy. - Sue Young, Bensville
What’s the difference between Labor and Liberal parties these days? Formerly, Labor stood for workers and Liberal for the employers. Nowadays both parties appeal to the workers by reducing their income and other taxes to get votes. - Kersi Meher-Homji, St Ives
'Devastating': Robots to take 6.5 million jobs
Are
we sleepwalking into an AI police state?
Predictive analytics enabling law enforcement to identify “high-risk” areas has highlighted ethical and legal quandaries.
Predictive analytics enabling law enforcement to identify “high-risk” areas has highlighted ethical and legal quandaries.
Tom Switzer, via the
Centre for Independent Studies
Unless conservatives
and genuine liberals make persuasive counter-arguments, we could be in the
midst of a fundamental realignment in the Australian cultural landscape that
entrenches progressive shibboleths for a generation.
Losing
the faith: the demise of trust in liberal democracy
Not only do people not trust politicians to “do the right thing,” but 85% of people think at least some federal politicians are corrupt. Whether MPs’ deserve this cynicism and suspicion is almost beside the point; they need to act to win back the trust of the people. And not just for the sake of their jobs: over time, a widespread loss of trust in political institutions can undermine representative democracy itself.
Not only do people not trust politicians to “do the right thing,” but 85% of people think at least some federal politicians are corrupt. Whether MPs’ deserve this cynicism and suspicion is almost beside the point; they need to act to win back the trust of the people. And not just for the sake of their jobs: over time, a widespread loss of trust in political institutions can undermine representative democracy itself.
FRANKFORT, Ky., March 26, 2019 — Today, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signed HB 254 into law, protecting free speech at the commonwealth’s public colleges and universities by granting students the “broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, learn, and discuss any issue.”
The bill requires institutions to maintain “a marketplace of ideas where the free exchange of ideas is not suppressed” and explicitly prohibits the use of restrictive free speech zones.
“College leaders should promote the fact that their campuses host diverse viewpoints, not corral dissenting speakers into pre-approved areas where they determine it’s ‘safe’ to have an opinion,” said FIRE Executive Director Robert Shibley. “We commend Kentucky legislators for making free speech a priority, and encourage other states to follow their lead.”
Ten percent of colleges and universities surveyed by FIRE maintain a free speech zone, according to FIRE’sSpotlight on Speech Codes 2019 report. Free speech zones have repeatedly been struck down by courts or voluntarily revised by colleges as part of lawsuit settlements brought by students. Eight cases in FIRE’sStand Up For Speech Litigation Project included successful challenges to free speech zone policies.
FRANKFORT, Ky., March 26, 2019 — Today, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signed HB 254 into law, protecting free speech at the commonwealth’s public colleges and universities by granting students the “broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, learn, and discuss any issue.”
If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will
We need to make hard decisions now about what will truly benefit current and future Americans.
Lara Bazelon is insightful writer who picks up tough we mean truly hardest topics such as her latest book Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction: “When the truth erupts with all its outsized consequences, exposing a system that is rife with venality, bias, and cruelty, the revelations are not freeing. A wrongful conviction is a psychological prison for everyone snagged in its net ...
Luxury upgrade for government's VIP jet fleet
Federal politicians will have three new luxury jets, worth about $74 million each, to scoot about the country in by the end of the year.
"Next, technology.
It is easy to say, but harder to implement: as crime becomes more digital – so must we. We in law enforcement must increase our digital investigative capacities and capability.
When I started prosecuting, most of the evidence in fraud cases was on paper: ledgers, accounts and company records. Those days are long gone. We no longer struggle to locate enough hard copy records to build our cases. Today, communications are digital, accounting records are digital, and suspects and witnesses carry in their pockets computers that hold vast amounts of data.
E-mails, social media, closed chatrooms and Whatsapp messages are now the most likely sources of vital evidence to unravel serious and complex crimes and to identify the people who commit them. Today, about 95% of the evidence that the SFO confronts is electronically based. As investigators, all of us are now trying to find evidential needles in enormous digital haystacks.
This means that to be an effective prosecutor and investigator we must understand the digital world. This takes new tools. At the SFO we have begun using Artificial Intelligence tools for examining electronic documents, to get us to critical evidence more quickly. Similarly, we are increasingly using forensic computer expertise and developing, among multidisciplinary teams, forensic digital ability.
It is easy to say, but harder to implement: as crime becomes more digital – so must we. We in law enforcement must increase our digital investigative capacities and capability.
When I started prosecuting, most of the evidence in fraud cases was on paper: ledgers, accounts and company records. Those days are long gone. We no longer struggle to locate enough hard copy records to build our cases. Today, communications are digital, accounting records are digital, and suspects and witnesses carry in their pockets computers that hold vast amounts of data.
E-mails, social media, closed chatrooms and Whatsapp messages are now the most likely sources of vital evidence to unravel serious and complex crimes and to identify the people who commit them. Today, about 95% of the evidence that the SFO confronts is electronically based. As investigators, all of us are now trying to find evidential needles in enormous digital haystacks.
This means that to be an effective prosecutor and investigator we must understand the digital world. This takes new tools. At the SFO we have begun using Artificial Intelligence tools for examining electronic documents, to get us to critical evidence more quickly. Similarly, we are increasingly using forensic computer expertise and developing, among multidisciplinary teams, forensic digital ability.
“…Building power for blue- (and pink-) collar workers requires building working-class power everywhere. Unionizing one workplace makes it easier to unionize another. It builds up unions’ coffers. It strengthens a culture of unionism, something desperately in need of a comeback when union membership in the United States standsat a lowly 10.7 percent. Plus, at their best, unions are vehicles for building working-class power as a class, rather than just interest groups looking out for their members’ interests — we’re far from that vision of unionism, but we won’t get anywhere near it without rebuilding the labor movement. We need more unions, not less…”
MetLife’s 17th Annual U.S.Employee Benefit Trends Study 2019 – “Employees need an ally, and employers can play this role by creating a workplace that not only recognizes employees holistically, but supports them holistically as well. One that provides experiences that enrich, a culture that accepts, and guidance that helps employees reach their individual goals. This year’s top insights:
- When employees are supported as individuals, they are more engaged
- Finding purpose at work is multifaceted
- Technology is driving a new mandate for training
- Flexible careers are reshaping the workplace
- The gig economy can be a challenge and an opportunity for employers
While the challenges and opportunities posed by each of these insights cannot be addressed overnight, there’s one theme that runs throughout: Employers need to think about employees’ lives and needs holistically…”
Freedom House – “Unpacking 13 years of Decline – Freedom in the World has recorded global declines in political rights and civil liberties for an alarming 13 consecutive years, from 2005 to 2018. The global average score has declined each year, and countries with net score declines have consistently outnumbered those with net improvements. Freedom in the World 2019 Map – A total of 68 countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties during 2018, with only 50 registering gains.
- A widespread problem: The 13 years of decline have touched all parts of the world and affected Free, Partly Free, and Not Free countries alike. Every region except Asia-Pacific has a lower average score for 2018 than it did in 2005, and even Asia declined when countries with less than 1 million people—mostly small Pacific Island states—are excluded. Not Free countries as a group suffered a more significant score drop than Free or Partly Free countries, which also declined.
- Faltering post–Cold War democratization: The end of the Cold War facilitated a wave of democratization in the late 20th century, but a large share of countries that made progress during that time were unable to maintain it. On average, countries that earned a status upgrade—from Not Free to Partly Free, or Partly Free to Free—between 1988 and 2005 have faced an 11 percent drop in their numerical score during the 13 years of decline.
- Consolidated democracies slip: Social and economic changes related to globalization have contributed to a crisis of confidence in the political systems of long-standing democracies. The democratic erosion seen among Free countries is concentrated in consolidated democracies—those that were rated Free from 1985 through 2005, the 20-year period before the 13-year decline.
Despite a continued downward trajectory overall, there were several more countries with net improvements in 2018 than in 2017, and a somewhat smaller number with net declines. This does not mean the threat to democracy is coming to an end. Hostile forces around the world continue to challenge the institutions meant to protect political rights and civil liberties, and the damage accrued over the past 13 years will not soon be undone…”
‘Netflix Of E-Books’ Begins Offering Original Content
Scribd, a subscription service for e-books and audiobooks with over 1
million paying subscribers, is launching Scribd Originals, which will
“focus on ‘the space between a magazine article and a book’ — namely,
pieces up to 50,000 words in length that are too long to run in a
magazine but aren’t long enough to be published as a standalone book.” –
TechCrunch
Top Companies 2019: Where the U.S. wants to work now – also includes companies around the world
The 2019 LinkedIn Top Companies list reveals the 50 companies where Americans want to work — and stick around once they’re in — now. “Every year, our editors and data scientists parse billions of actions taken by LinkedIn members around the world to uncover the companies that are attracting the most attention from jobseekers and then hanging onto that talent. The data-driven approach looks at what members are doing — not just saying — in their search for fulfilling careers. The result of that data is Top Companies, our 4th annual ranking of the most sought-after companies today. As always, we analyze U.S. members’ anonymized actions across four main pillars: interest in the company, engagement with the company’s employees, job demand and employee retention. (We exclude LinkedIn and LinkedIn’s parent company, Microsoft, from all LinkedIn Lists. You can dig into the details of our methodology at the bottom of the article.)
- You can also check out the Top Companies in *Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Brazil and the UK. See who made the cut and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopCompanies.”
Australia's
ageing Jozef Imrich population - Understanding the fiscal impacts over the next decade
PBO, 1 April 2019. This report builds on the 2015 Intergenerational Report by providing a detailed analysis of the impacts of an ageing population on revenue and spending over the next decade.
PBO, 1 April 2019. This report builds on the 2015 Intergenerational Report by providing a detailed analysis of the impacts of an ageing population on revenue and spending over the next decade.