Nationals demand changes to university fees

11/8/2020

(See Translation in Arabic section)

Canberra - M E Times Int'l: The National Party is demanding changes to the Federal Government's planned overhaul of the university system, warning a "glaring" design flaw could leave country students worse off.

The Coalition Government announced in June it planned to double the cost of humanities degrees, while slashing the course fees of "job-relevant" subjects.

Nationals MP and Minister for Regional Education, Andrew Gee, said his party, the junior party in the Coalition, was concerned the changes would deter students from studying social studies and behavioural science courses, which were set to become significantly more expensive.

"Given country Australia has been devastated by bushfires, floods, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that regional communities have easy access to mental health services and support," he said in a statement.

Premier Berejiklian warns public to 'be on guard' as NSW...

Sydney: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has stressed “this is not the time for complacency” after NSW recorded 22 new cases in the last 24 hours.

 “Extra-curricular activities, those excursions and overnight things you ordinarily would do are not acceptable during a pandemic," she said.

“I’m absolutely paranoid about what I do myself, the worst thing would be to unintentionally give it to others."

The NSW Premier urged the public to obey the health guidelines and maintain social distancing restrictions.

 “All of us have to be on guard," she said.

 “I don’t want people living with the guilt of passing on the disease or causing the spread."

Trump is pulled from briefing after White House incident

US President Donald Trump has been pulled out of his daily briefing after a shooting incident outside the White House.

 Security interrupted the President to alert him of a threat before removing him from the Press Briefing room during a live coronavirus update.

President Trump then returned to the podium minutes later and revealed to the press gallery he was whisked away due to a shooting outside the White House.

The President also revealed the suspect was shot by Secret Service.

"There was an actual shooting and somebody's been taken to the hospital - I don't know the condition of the person," he said.

Effective unemployment 'will continue to rise'

Sydney: Jobless figures are going to continue to rise and the country will stay in double digit effective unemployment until at least the end of the year, according to KPMG Chief Economist Dr Brendan Rynne. “They’ll continue to rise through to the end of the year and start to recover thereafter,” Mr Rynne said.

The official unemployment rate is expected to peak near 10 per cent, however the effective rate is almost 14 per cent.

 “Albeit that the recovery in the jobs market is going to be in fact slower than what we initially thought.” Jobs figures will be released on Thursday.

Australia among world's highest coronavirus death rates (aged care)

Canberra: The rate of coronavirus deaths in Australia's aged care sector now ranks among the highest in the world, with at least 218 lives lost so far.

Federal agencies reportedly failed to prepare despite warnings from overseas the elderly were most vulnerable to the disease.

The Royal Commission into Australia's aged care crisis heard the government had not implemented specific COVID-19 plans for the sector.

In Sydney, the two main nursing home outbreaks during the first wave - in Newmarch House and Dorothy Henderson Lodge - had not been investigated by regulators.

The aged care sector makes up almost 70 per cent of Australia's deaths during the pandemic.

 Despite 138 deaths across Victorian facilities since July, the commission is not investigating that state's aged care outbreaks.

'We must put our national security first' as Chinese interference heightens

Brisbane: Nationals Senator Matt Canavan says recent reports on Chinese interference in Australia by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) are extremely concerning but not surprising.

ASIO reported that “interference has included threats of harm to individuals and/or their families, both in Australia and abroad.”

“In some cases, foreign governments will seek to use members of the diaspora community in Australia to monitor, direct and influence the activities of the same diaspora communities,” ASIO reported.

Mr Canavan said this behaviour from China underlines why the Chinese people are not to blame for any of the Chinese attacks.

He said the “terrible governance” of China was solely at fault.

Mr Canavan said the increasing frequency of Chinese threats to, within and through the diaspora should lead Australia to reflect on its university intake of Chinese students.

“We must put our own national security first,” he said.

International tourism will take 'multiple years' to return to normal

Sydney: Westpac senior economist Matt Hassan says barring a miraculous medical response to the COVID outbreak, the world will grappling with virus for “multiple years”.

The Reserve Bank's Deputy Director Luci Ellis on Friday said it will be several years before Australia is back in full economic health.

 "The situation in Victoria will reduce growth in the September quarter and push out the recovery beyond that," she said.

"The recovery is expected to be slow and uneven, and GDP will probably take several years to return to the trend path expected prior to the virus outbreak."

Mr Hassan said he agrees with Ms Ellis' statement, adding really high-risk sectors such as international tourism “will be very hard to see getting up and running fully functional for multiple years”.

Edward 'Teddy' Sheean to receive Australia's highest military offer

Tasmania: Australia’s highest military honour will be awarded to Edward ‘Teddy’ Sheean nearly 80 years after he gave his life to save his shipmates at sea.

The 18-year-old sailor ignored orders to abandon ship in 1942 when the HMAS Armidale came under heavy fire from Japanese bombers and fighter planes.

The Tasmanian teenager was able to bring down one plane and damage two more before the ship sank with him on board.

Mr Sheean’s nephew said he was “hopeful” the Queen would award Mr Sheean the Victoria Cross after years of advocating for the honour.