Under-16 social media ban proposed in New Zealand
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News.com.au
28 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Ex-NSW Premier likens Israel's actions in Gaza to war crimes committed by Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin
Former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr has likened Israel's actions in Gaza to war crimes and humanitarian crisis committed by the Nazis, Joseph Stalin and People's Republic of China chairman Mao Zedong, urging tougher action on from the Australian government. Speaking to Radio National, the former NSW premier and Labor heavyweight said Israel was using 'mass starvation against the civilian population as a weapon of war'. 'There's a pattern of behaviour here that really demands comparison with the worst of the last 100 years, of Stalin's Ukraine, of the Warsaw Ghetto, of Mao's Great Leap Forward,' he said. 'Unspeakable cruelty is being visited against babies and children in the enforcement of something not seen in the modern world, that is an advanced state using mass starvation as a weapon of war and giving effect to a genocide.' Israel has started a 'tactical pause' to allow aid agencies to tackle the hunger crisis in Gaza, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was not to blame for the situation, adding there were 'secure routes' for aid. While he welcomed stronger comments from Anthony Albanese that Israel had 'quite clearly' breached international law by withholding aid to civilians in Gaza, Mr Carr called for further action. He urged the Prime Minister to follow French President Emmanuel Macron to recognise Palestinian statehood when he attends the United Nations General Assembly in September. On Sunday, the Labor leader watered down the action, stating there needed to be more detail on how a Palestinian state would function, plus assurances there would be no involvement from Hamas. 'How do you exclude Hamas from any involvement there? How do you ensure that a Palestinian State operates in an appropriate way which does not threaten the existence of Israel?' Mr Albanese told the ABC. 'And so we won't do any decision as a gesture. We will do it as a way forward, if the circumstances are met.' However Mr Carr said Australia was 'giving the impression that we need the comfort of Britain' before recognising Palestine, and urged Mr Albanese to show leadership and act sooner. 'I just think Australians are ready to see our country to show a flash of independence, strength and maturity by moving with the French and not huddling and waiting for the sanction that Britain would give us when Downing Street finally gets round to it,' he said. Mr Carr's comments have been criticised internally, with Labor Friends of Israel co-convener Nick Dyrenfurth calling on Mr Carr to 'promptly apologise' for the overly provocative comments. Dr Dyrenfurth said that while he was 'gravely concerned with the Netanyahu government's actions in Gaza,' there is 'no genocide taking place'. 'Mr Carr is wilfully lying and deliberately stoking community tensions with extremist language and deliberately provoking his former friends in Australia's Jewish community with Nazi slurs,' he said. The first Muslim MP, and demoted Labor minister Ed Husic also called on Mr Albanese to commit to recognising Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly, stating France has made the decision without needing prior confirmation on the demilitarisation of Hamas. 'Hamas absolutely has to be held to account, but the Netanyahu government, in the way that they've held Hamas to account and impacted and killed nearly 60,000 innocent Palestinians. That is unacceptable,' Mr Husic told Sky. He said resolving the conflict in Gaza was also about recognising the 'humanity of Israelis and Palestinians,' Mr Husic added, stating that 'a lot of Israelis suffered deeply on October 7, and a lot of Palestinians have suffered ever since'. 'Bringing peace to them is something that we can all throw our weight behind.'
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
‘Disrespectful and derogatory': GP suspended for social media posts about abortion, gender and Covid
A conservative Christian GP has been found guilty of professional misconduct after complaints were raised over more than a decade worth of his 'offensive' social media posts about abortion, the LGBTQI+ community and Covid. Lawyers for Dr Jereth Kok have blasted Tuesday's ruling by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), saying it represents a 'deeply concerning shift in regulatory scope over personal speech'. One post that landed Dr Kok in hot water was a satirical article by conservative Christian US website Babylon Bee titled 'Instead Of Traditional Warfare, Chinese Military Will Now Be Trained To Shout Wrong Pronouns At American Troops'. Instead Of Traditional Warfare, Chinese Military Will Now Be Trained To Shout Wrong Pronouns At American Troops â€' The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) March 20, 2021 VCAT found the post, re-shared by Dr Kok, was 'inconsistent' with the Medical Board's Code of Conduct as it 'failed to respect and be sensitive to gender diversity'. 'The Tribunal is comfortably satisfied that the post was denigrating, demeaning, disrespectful and derogatory to LGBTQI+ community as it trivialised reference to the identity issues of some in the LGBTQI+ community,' VCAT said in its decision. Dr Kok told the tribunal that he believed 'that the Bible very clearly teaches that homosexual conduct, which includes same-sex sexual activity and relationships, is immoral' and that 'the Bible obliges Christian believers to refrain from all immoral conduct, including homosexual conduct'. 'I have provided care to many gay and lesbian patients without ever disclosing my personal views to them,' he said in his witness statement. 'This was no more difficult for me than providing non-judgmental care to heterosexual patients having extramarital affairs (which I personally disapprove of) or even convicted criminals.' In other posts Dr Kok railed against abortion, describing it as the 'massacres of babies' and 'baby killing' and referring to medical practitioners who engage in the practice as 'butchers' and 'serial contract killers'. Dr Kok told the tribunal that as a Christian 'I believe that life and personhood begin at conception' and 'I abhor the way our society conceals the truth about abortion by using deceitful euphemisms'. VCAT upheld complaints against a number of the posts, finding that they denigrated, demeaned and slurred medical practitioners who provide abortion treatment to patients. The tribunal found Dr Kok had similarly demeaned doctors who 'recognise that people who identify as transgender are not suffering from a mental health condition'. In various posts on the topic of gender dysphoria, Dr Kok had described transgender surgery as 'medical butchery' and 'mutilation of genitals' and labelled doctors who performed the procedures as 'crooks'. Dr Kok, who previously practised at a clinic in Melbourne's outer suburbs, was suspended by the Medical Board of Australia in August 2019 after anonymous complaints were raised about his social media activity dating back to 2010. More than six years on, VCAT last week upheld Dr Kok's suspension, finding 54 of the 85 offending posts amounted to misconduct under the Health Practitioner National Law (Victoria) Act 2009. VCAT found Dr Kok had also 'expressed sentiments of violence and made derogatory statements' towards racial and religious groups, despite acknowledging that a number may have been 'meant by Dr Kok in some sort of humorous way'. In a number of inflammatory posts — which Dr Kok insisted were satirical or sarcastic in nature — he called for the colonisation of 'primitive yellow people and black people' and described Chinese people as 'ching chongs'. 'It's time that those primitive yellow people and black people progressed,' Dr Kok wrote in one post, which came in response to the 2015 Obergefell decision in the US legalising same-sex marriage. 'If they won't do it by themselves, we ought to colonise them, that we might educate them in equality, social justice and human rights.' In another post, Dr Kok replied to a friend who had joked about 'ordering some Zyklon B from Amazon' and 'inviting the inferior races over' for a shower with the hashtag '#illridewithyou'. Dr Kok told the tribunal the post was in the context of the December 2017 terror attack in Melbourne and 'specifically, [the fact that] anybody who expresses concern about religious inspired terrorism will be labelled a 'Nazi''. VCAT also found Dr Kok 'denigrated, demeaned and slurred persons that accepted and considered it right to follow Covid-19 public health orders' and 'in relation to Covid-19, drew on and legitimised anti-vaccination and vaccine hesitancy rhetoric and contained misleading information regarding vaccines'. Dr Kok had railed against 'authoritarian' lockdown measures and likened taking the Covid vaccine to playing 'Russian roulette', among other similar comments. 'Some posts provide information about important health matters, but the information is not balanced or unbiased and does not show an understanding of public health principles including for health promotion, disease prevention and control,' VCAT found. The Human Rights Law Alliance (HRLA), which represented Dr Kok, said the tribunal gave little weight to constitutional or freedom-of-speech protections despite the 'political, religious and satirical nature' of the posts. HRLA added that the decision 'sets a concerning precedent for freedom of speech in Australia, particularly for professionals who hold Christian or conservative beliefs'. 'Dr Kok is disappointed that he was unsuccessful with his submissions to the Tribunal that free speech principles should be upheld and that Medical Board discipline should relate to clinical conduct and should not police religious and political expression,' HRLA said in a statement to on behalf of Dr Kok. 'Dr Kok of course respects the Tribunal's decision and is taking advice on the decision and will now turn to preparing for the sanction hearing that will follow these findings.' HRLA noted the case 'did not relate to his medical practice, as the Tribunal acknowledged'. 'Dr Kok accepts that some of the language he used in his social media posts was regrettable and on reflection he would not use that language again,' the statement said. 'He notes that this relates to only a proportion of the posts that were impugned by the Medical Board and that he communicated this acceptance to the Tribunal at his hearing.' Dr Kok was 'heartened that the Tribunal found that the Medical Board's allegations of misconduct were not satisfied for over one third of the social media posts subject to allegations', HRLA added. 'Many of the posts were found to be purely political or religious commentary and so fell outside the Medical Board's remit. Dr Kok was also pleased that the worst allegations suggesting that he supported genocide and violence were not made out and that the Tribunal recognised that many comments used satire and sarcasm.' Christian political party Family First on Monday condemned the ruling, describing it as a 'gross injustice and a chilling attack on freedom of speech'. Family First said it would fight to repeal 'similar anti-free speech laws' in all states and would field candidates at upcoming elections in South Australia, Victoria and NSW. 'Dr Kok has harmed no patient. His only 'crime' was to express his views online — many of them satirical or Christian in nature — and for that, he has been punished with the loss of his medical career,' Family First national director Lyle Shelton said in a statement. 'This is not justice, it is un-Australian. This is Victoria's 'ministry of truth' enforcing ideological conformity and crushing dissent.'
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
NSW Premier says Gareth Ward must leave parliament after sex abuse conviction
The NSW premier says it is "ridiculous" that disgraced Kiama MP Gareth Ward remains in parliament after being convicted of serious sexual offences. Chris Minns today confirmed the government had legal advice that the Legislative Assembly had the power to remove the independent MP from parliament, even with an appeal pending. "It is completely, I think, ridiculous to be in a situation where someone has been not accused, not charged, but convicted of incredibly serious sexual assault convictions and stay as a member of parliament," Mr Minns said. Ward was found guilty by a District Court jury on Friday of four charges relating to the sexual abuse of two young men. That evening, the Minns Government issued a statement calling on the former Liberal minister to resign to protect the integrity of the parliament. Opposition Leader Mark Speakman also called for Ward's resignation on Friday. "If Mr Ward does not resign, then upon its resumption the parliament should swiftly take all appropriate steps to protect its integrity," Mr Speakman said. Ward will remain on bail until a detention application is considered by the District Court on Wednesday. His bail was varied, requiring him to report to police daily at either Kings Cross or Nowra A date for sentencing will be set on Wednesday. Mr Minns said any action taken by the NSW parliament would not be punitive, as it was the court's responsibility to determine punishment. But he said the parliament must protect its own integrity. "The Legislative Assembly needs to be in a position where it can assert the integrity of the House," Mr Minns said. "And one of the positions it can take is to say: If you have been convicted of these serious charges, it is not reasonable that that member stays on." The Premier said steps should be taken when parliament resumes in August. "Many taxpayers, many voters, would say 'Are you really suggesting that someone who has been convicted of these incredibly serious charges continues on as a member of parliament even when they are in jail?" the premier said. While the NSW Constitution allows MPs to remain in parliament while appealing a conviction, University of Sydney constitutional law expert Professor Anne Twomey said the parliament had the power to expel a member to protect its integrity, even before sentencing or appeal outcomes. "It would be a matter for the parliament to decide if this was an extreme case," she said. "But in an extreme case they could say 'Well it just undermines the ability of our House to operate, because people will lose trust in us and respect for us and therefore, in the circumstances, we have to expel and leave it up to the people to decide'." Mr Minns acknowledged the nature of the hung parliament and said he was yet to speak to the cross bench or opposition on whether they would support a move to expel the independent MP. The premier said he did not want the "enormous courage" of the two complainants to get lost in "a political bun fight" about Ward's future. "If you speak to survivors of this kind of sexual assault, they will tell you that going through the process of reporting it to the police and then a criminal trial turns your life upside down all over again," Mr Minns said. "That should not be forgotten in all this." During the trial the two complainants, who were aged 18 and 24 at the time of the offences in 2013 and 2015, gave detailed and often emotionally charged evidence. They both told the court of their deep reluctance to come forward, which was rooted in fear, self-blame and what they saw as a significant power imbalance between themselves and Ward.
