Australian Republic Movement Announces Appointment of Co-Chairs
Nova Peris OAM and Craig Foster AM

21.3.2023

A Special General Meeting held by the Australian Republic Movement this week resolved to change the ARM Constitution and for the first time in 32 years, adopt female and male Co-Chairs.

As such, the Australian Republic Movement is pleased to announce new Co-Chairs: Nova Peris OAM and Craig Foster AM.

Co-Chair, Nova Peris, is an Olympic Gold Medalist, a Commonwealth Champion, the first Aboriginal woman elected to Federal Parliament, a long-time, passionate supporter of an Australian Republic and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1998.

Co-Chair Craig Foster (formerly Chair) is a former professional athlete, prominent human rights advocate and anti-racism campaigner who campaigned for an Australian Republic as a Socceroo during the 1999 referendum.

As part of the changes, ARM Executive member, Meredith Doig, was also elected to Deputy Chair, having served as Deputy Chair Senior.

New Co-Chair Nova Peris said the change “reflects the value system of the ARM and the movement, one calling for access, inclusion and equality for all Australians in our Constitution. The ARM believes deeply in reflecting both the cultural diversity of contemporary Australia along with deep respect for its First Nations in our institutions as part of the unifying vision of a truly inclusive, reconciled and multicultural Australia.”

The appointment of these positions was decided by vote of the Australian Republic Movement National Committee on 20 March 2023.

From the Sydney Morning Herald

Senior Labor MPs on board the “zero-emissions” campaign bus on Tuesday include Penny Sharpe and Rose Jackson, with the latter playing DJ (Harry Styles so far dominating the morning playlist).

The bus was back on the road about 11.30am, but travelling media and Labor staff were soon forced off the electric vehicle and onto a good old-fashioned gas-guzzling coach.

It seems the battery ran out of charge - let’s hope it’s no omen for the rest of the Labor campaign this week.

The world's climate scientists have issued what one expert said is a "final warning" before global warming exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"The climate time-bomb is ticking," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which this week released its final "synthesis report", marking six years of work by about 700 scientists. 

"Today’s IPCC report is a how-to guide to defuse the climate time-bomb," he said. "It is a survival guide for humanity."

Representatives of 195 countries negotiated an agreed text for the summary report, after assessing tens of thousands of scientific studies.

Haven't we seen a lot of IPCC reports already?

The report, known as the AR6, is a synthesis of six other reports by the IPCC — taking enormous amounts of data and simplifying it so policymakers inside and outside governments can use it.

As you can probably guess, there's not a lot of good news.

However, the scientists say there is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and every bit of carbon pollution makes a difference.

The authors concluded:

• It was now "unequivocal" that climate is changing as a result of human activity, and that it is a threat to human societies and the natural world
• Climate change is already making extreme weather events more frequent — with 3.3 to 3.6 billion people living in places “highly vulnerable” to these changes
• Cuts to emissions need to be "deep, rapid and sustained" if the world is to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius this decade
• If warming goes above that, adaptation will likely be too much for some communities and ecosystems to survive.

UPDATE - Thank you Underminder!

PRESS RELEASE

MOIRA DEEMING LIBERAL MP – WESTERN METROPOLITAN REGION

Personal statement:

I have been informed that there will be a vote in the Liberal Party room to determine whether I should be allowed to remain or be expelled from the Parliamentary Party.

Let me clear – I have done nothing wrong. Those who organised the Let Women Speak event on the weekend have done nothing wrong. Despite this, a select few members of the Liberal leadership team have condemned me unjustly.

This is an inflection point for the Liberal Party in Victoria. There are two paths the Party must choose from. Does it accept the utterly false premise that anyone who chooses to speak out reasonably, constructively, and legally is somehow an endorsement for anyone at all who happens to show up at a public event? Are we truly suggesting that we let Daniel Andrews decide the rules about who is attached to and responsible for who? This from a Premier whose own Party was found to have rorted the tax payer over the scandalous red shirts affair and yet apparently has nothing to do with it and bears no responsibility or accountability for it.

Or will the Liberal Party choose this moment to draw a line in the sand and stand on our principles. I believe that Victorians want us as Liberals to stand up to the bullying from Daniel Andrews. They've had enough of the spin and the slander. And enough of women and girls being silenced about the extraordinary challenges we face.

My intention is to fight and to remain a member of the team. I hope that my colleagues draw the line and say enough, and that I am able to fight alongside them. I hope that when I have the opportunity to present the facts as they occurred, that my colleagues will stand on principle and vote down the motion to have me expelled.

Background statement: On Saturday 18th of March, I attended the ‘Let Women Speak’ event hosted by ‘Standing For Women UK’ (SFW). SFW advocates for the reinstatement of reasonable biological-sex based rights and against the irreversible and harmful medical transitioning practices used on gender non-conforming, autistic and gay minors. This organisation and its goals are mainstream and global, supported by high profile members and leaders of every mainstream political party in the world. The Melbourne “Let Women Speak” event was attended by Muslims, Christians, Atheists and members of the Greens, Labor, LDP and Liberal Parties. I announced on International Women’s Day, in Parliament that I’d be in attendance and invited Natalie Hutchins to join me, because she is the Minister for Women. Due to threats of violence from extreme left activists including the notorious Antifa, I was approached and asked if I could drive international speaker Kelly Jay and her security guards to park in Parliament House car park, for safer passage to and from the Parliament House steps. I sought and gained permission from Parliament services to do so. The event was very ably organised by Angela Jones, a left-wing, pro-gay rights Jewish woman, who liaised with Victoria Police to arrange a buffer zone between her event and any counter protestors. This is why I and the other attendees were horrified to see masked men all clad in black inside the buffer zone. We thought that we were going to be attacked. However, the police did not seem worried and were talking with them over at the edge of the line. Later I saw the police seemingly usher these men right through the centre of the buffer zone in between our event and the counter protestors, which is when I saw those men raise their hands in a Hitler salute. I, along with the few others who were facing them from the front were horrified, but relieved that the police were moving them on.

Coalition forces in Afghanistan, including Australian Special Forces acted under instruction from the Coalition to engage in missions to kill high value targets who appeared on a sanctioned liquidation list - the Joint Priority Effects List (JPEL).

These were high value targets, Directly Participating in Hostilities (DPH).

The parameters for the JPEL were fairly broad:

Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton authorised drone and missile strikes with the intent purpose of killing people on the JPEL.

I'm told that direct operations by Special Forces in the field was preferred to missile strikes, due to the obvious risks in target identification and killing adjacent civilians.

We are going to exercise caution in commenting on this topic.

Here is an extract from a Coalition Special Forces briefing on the issue - in this case it's the New Zealand Special Forces.

What are the odds Obama or Hillary Clinton will be charged?

We’ve reached the final week of the campaign, and many of you will read this email while on pre-poll or the doors, speaking to voters and persuading them to choose Labor and a Fresh Start for NSW.

It’s been a hectic campaign and we know that when you’re working this hard it can be easy to lose track of all of the important announcements we’ve made over the last twelve months. 

So as we launch our Final Push on the countdown to Election Day, we wanted to remind you of 5 good reasons why it’s so important Labor wins this Saturday: 

1. We’re tackling the climate & energy crisis: by creating a publicly-owned clean energy corporation, expanding investment in renewable energy, improving grid reliability and putting downward pressure on power prices. 
2. We’ll create 10,000 more permanent teachers: giving teachers the job security they need to stay in the profession; giving schools the flexibility they need to deliver lessons; and giving parents the confidence that their children will be taught by a dedicated teacher and not spend time in a merged classroom. 
3. We'll provide 2,000 study subsidies for future health workers: including students studying nursing, midwifery, paramedicine, allied health, and medicine – to attract staff and retain talent in the NSW public health system.
4. We’ll fix the housing crisis: by abolishing or reducing stamp duty for 95% of first homebuyers, by banning secret rent bidding, and by allowing pets in rentals.
5. We’ll invest a historic $103 million in contemporary music and will double the number of music venues in NSW: and we’ll implement a $250 minimum fee for musicians at commercial events that receive public funding.

And that’s just the start. But we can’t make any of this happen without your help.

We know you’ve given so much to this campaign already, but we need your support again as we launch our Final Push.

Chip in now to make sure that people across New South Wales know these 5 good reasons to vote Labor this Saturday.

We’re so thankful for every member and volunteer who has gone the extra mile this campaign, particularly on the heels of a gruelling Federal Election last year that saw Labor in power nationally for the first time in almost a decade.

But with this Final Push towards Election Day, we could see Labor in power in every mainland state in Australia, which is why it’s so important we get our message out.

If you can donate $5 (that’s just $1 every day from now until Election Day) that could be the difference between a win and a loss this Saturday.

NSW is ready for a fresh start, and Labor is ready to deliver just that. 

With only 5 days to go, we need to give it everything we’ve got.

Thank you for your support,

Liam Rankine
Marginal Seats Organiser

P.S. If you can’t donate, please support the campaign by volunteering. You can sign up here.

UPDATE - from The Australian.

Former SAS trooper Oliver Schulz, 41, was arrested in regional NSW on Monday morning and was expected to face local court later in the day.

“It will be alleged he murdered an Afghan man while deployed to Afghanistan with the Australian Defence Force,” the AFP said in a statement.

“The maximum penalty for a war crime-murder offence is life imprisonment.”

The alleged 2012 killing is set to become the first to be prosecuted following an investigation by the Office of the Special Investigator.

The OSI was set up to probe alleged war crimes identified by army reserve major general and NSW Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton in his November 2020 report for the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force.

Thank you Damo, great find.

Here’s Victorian Opposition leader John Pesutto saying Moira Deeming will be sacked from the Liberal Party because ‘she has an association with … people who promote Nazi views.’

It’s a slur that is equally outrageous and false. He looks stressed.

⁦@MoiraDeemingMP⁩ pic.twitter.com/kF8eRQrBZP

— John Ruddick (@JohnRuddick2) March 19, 2023

Valentina Petrillo, a male runner who self identifies as a woman, breaks the record and wins his 8th women's title in Italy 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/xtI8hKdN93

— 🔥⭐️Edwin⭐️🔥 (@Edwin07011) March 19, 2023