Barbara Pocock, a senator with Australia's Greens party, referred to a "misdemeanor" at the firm, and said she was disappointed with the fine. "We've got a toothless system where con artists... get away with so much," she told a parliamentary committee last week.
Kamala Harris has told an audience at Women Unlimited that economic disparity and loneliness must be addressed to arrest the growing threat authoritarians pose to democratic values.
The one-time Democratic presidential candidate, who lost the last US election to Donald Trump, said that renewing trust among citizens by tackling these two issues would be essential for the long-term solutions needed worldwide.
“I understand this may sound lofty and, to be sure, renewing that trust will not solve the immediate crises before us,” Harris said.
“It will not stop the lawlessness, the grift or the cruelty.
“But I do believe we must aspire to solve some of the larger challenges that led to this moment.”
Authoritarian regimes worldwide all showed a pattern of identifying and exploiting the loneliness and struggles of individuals, Harris added.
She said these leaders had found a way to speak to citizens’ sense of isolation, economic pain, and distrust, while presenting themselves as the only cure and stoking further distrust of democracy.
“These same leaders try to tighten their grip on power through fear, exclusion, and polarisation, thereby sowing further distrust and isolation,” Harris said.
“We [must] commit to embracing our differences with mutual respect and trust, as I like to say, with the belief and understanding that in the face of a stranger, we see a neighbour.”
The former vice president asked the Canberra audience to challenge themselves, expand their vision of what was possible, and restore trust.
Each person doing their part to advance justice, uphold the rights of all, including marginalised groups, and safeguard civic education that promotes the values of honesty, integrity and empathy was a good start, she said.
“Trust must be earned, and any democratic government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the people,” Harris said.
“[So government] must be transparent in its activities, it must be responsive to the people’s actual needs, and it must not be bought by outside interests.
“The people must see and feel the benefit of their government,” she said
Executive Lunch
A two-course seated lunch with an exclusive address from Kamala Harris, 49th Vice President of the United States.
Kamala Harris
49th Vice President of the United States
In-person
The Public Sector Executive Leadership Summit convenes senior leaders from federal and state government for an exclusive forum exploring the complex challenges facing executive leaders.
Social media platforms are only as good as the people who run them
Readers respond to an article by Frances Ryan on whether it is ethical to use social media apps, given they can be rife with toxic rhetoric
Frances Ryan is right to point out the dangers of social media apps (Given the toxicity of social media, a moral question now faces all of us: is it still ethical to use it?, 14 February), but she also acknowledges how beneficial they can be. In my early days on Bluesky, I began questioning why I was spending time building a following. I wanted to promote my books because I believed that they had the potential to help many people, but book sales didn’t actually increase.
Still, I continued. I posted Arwa Mahdawi’s powerful column about the Save Act. I was able to let countless people know for the first time how dangerous this law would be. Then a researcher friend told me that he was having trouble getting people to complete a survey on gender-affirming care. With the help of others on the platform, we were able to get many participants for him.
The platform is only as good as the people who run it. When I first started on UpScrolled, an Australian platform, I wondered why the feed quickly ran out. Issam Hijazi designed the app to keep users from becoming addicted.
Social media, like any tool, can be used for good or evil. It is the moral values of the designers and the users that determine which.
Randy Fair
Wilton Manors, Florida,
KPMG partner in Oz turned to AI to pass an exam on... AI
Julian Barnes: ‘I’ve become more left-wing because the center has moved rightwards’
The 80-year-old British author has published ‘Departures,’ which he says will be his last book
It's just a complete coincidence that the DOJ has completely withheld all the Epstein documents immediately before, during, and after 9/11, right?
ICE operations increasingly resemble Israeli occupation. That’s no coincidence +972 Magazine
Epstein Flipped Israel’s Gaza-Tested Biometric Scanners Into Nigeria Ports Deal for UAE Drop Site
Files Showed Jeffrey Epstein Was a Guest at Conrad Black’s Lavish 60th Birthday Party for Barbara Amiel. The DOJ Just Deleted It. Dougald Lamont
After Noam Anti-Empire Project
Epstein Class: Making Money Killing People is A-OK Karl Sanchez
Westminster Book Awards
They've announced the winners of the Westminster Book Awards, with The Football Battalions, by Chris Evans winning for 'Best Fiction or Non-Fiction Book by a Parliamentarian'; see also the Bloomsbury publicity page.
At El Mundo Andrés Seoane profiles Slow Horses-author Mick Herron: 'Literature, like all art, begins with entertainment'.
