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LOCAL NEWS
Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull warns Australia to drug test unemployed
in trial welfare crackdown
Asian leaders of ‘coercive China’
Melbourne: Australian Prime
Minister Malcolm Turnbull has
used a key speech on security in
Singapore to warn the Asian
countries against a “coercive
China” and said small powers will
unite against Beijing if it tries to
bully neighbours.
In a keynote speech at at the
Shangri La security summit on
Friday night, Turnbull said that while
countries like Australia and
Singapore might be “smaller fish”,
they value their sovereignty, The
Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Pointing to “now palpable
tensions” on the Korean peninsula
and in the South China Sea,
Turnbull said: “Maintaining the
rule of law in our region, respecting
the sovereignty of nations large
and small is the key to continued
peace and stability.”
He said China could build up
trust by using its leverage to rein
in rogue state North Korea. And
he issued a warning against
Beijing`s island-building in the
South China Sea, saying the region
needed “cooperation, not unilateral
actions to seize territory or militarise
disputed areas”.
“A coercive China would find
its neighbours resenting demands
they cede their autonomy and
strategic space, and look to
counterweight Beijing`s power by
bolstering alliances and
partnerships, between themselves
and especially with the US,”
Turnbull said.
On relations with the US under
the Trump administration, Turnbull
said: “Our alliance with the US
reflects a deep alignment of
interests and values but it has never
been a straightjacket for Australian
policy-making.”
Amid rising concern over
America`s unpredictable foreign
policy, Turnbull said while the US
withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade deal and now
from the Paris climate deal was
“disappointing … we should take
care not to rush to interpret an intent
to engage on different terms as
one not to engage at all”.
Harley-Davidson marks 100 years in Australia
A rusty old motorcycle sits in
the corner of the room, with
seemingly nothing to connect it
to the gleaming chrome beasts
which surround it, except for the
name emblazoned on its side –
Harley-Davidson.
The bike is a 1917 T-Model V-
Twin, the first Harley sold in
Australia, when Arthur Davidson
came to Brisbane just a few
years after setting up his soon-
to-be famous motorcycle
business in the United States.
Since then, Harley-Davidson
has had a strong connection with
Australia, with the market Down
Under the second biggest in the
world for the company behind only
the US.
To celebrate a century of
Harley-Davidson’s connection to
Australia, Arthur’s grand-nephew
Bill Davidson is taking part in a
ride of the east coast of Australia,
from Brisbane to Melbourne,
starting on Saturday.
Mr Davidson says he’s looking
forward to attending some street
parties in Brisbane over the
weekend organised by the
company before the ride starts.
“It’s amazing when I go to these
different events I feel like I’m at
home, because people are very
welcoming, the camaraderie is
a big part of it,” he said.
Sydney: Australia will drug test the
newly-unemployed as part of a
crackdown on people who blow their
benefits on getting high, with data
from sewage used to identify which
hot spots to target, officials said
Thursday.
Up to 5,000 jobless will have to
take the test to quality for allowances
as part of a trial to address welfare-
fuelled substance abuse.
Benefit recipients who do not
pass will have their handouts put on
a cashless debit card which they can
only use to buy essentials such as
food and housing.
Those who fail more than once
will be referred to medical
professionals for assessment and
treatment.
“We`re going to trial this with just
5,000 people and if it doesn`t work
we`ll stop it and if it does work and
it`s helping people well we`ll keep
doing it, we`d be silly not to,” said
Treasurer Scott Morrison.
Australia`s unemployment rate
currently stands at 5.9 percent, with
753,000 people out of work.
The government hopes the plan,
along with docking welfare payments
for people who skip job interviews or
fail to attend meetings, could save
taxpayers more than Aus$600 million
(US$440 million) over the next four
years.
Sewage data would be used to
pinpoint three sites for the trial based
on the National Wastewater Drug
Monitoring Program which has
identified “astonishingly high” rates
of methamphetamine use across
Australia.
Social Services Minister Christian
Porter said it was about helping
people have the best chance possible
of getting a job. “The 5,000-person
drug testing trial is squarely aimed
at identifying and assisting people
and driving behavioural change,” he
said.
“What we think we can achieve
through this is to ensure people at
that absolutely critical point in their
life when they`re searching for a job,
engage in behaviours that assist
them in that process and don`t destroy
that process.”
Some welfare lobby groups have
argued the approach was wrong.
“This is further demonising of
people on social security, people on
the lowest incomes in the country,”
Australian Council of Social Service
chief executive Cassandra Goldie told
the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation.
“Another harsh welfare
crackdown, compliance, it`s already
really tough.”
Australia’s ‘Ganja Queen’ set to leave Bali
Denpasar (Indonesia):
Australian drug convict Schapelle
Corby is set to be deported from
the Indonesian island of Bali on
Saturday night after completing
a twelve-and-a-half-year
sentence for smuggling
marijuana, a case that strained
ties between the neighbouring
countries.
Corby has always maintained
her innocence, saying she was
unaware she was carrying more
than 4 kg (8.8 lb) of marijuana
in a boogie board bag when she
arrived on the resort island in late
2004.
The case received huge media
attention, with many Australians
feeling the former beauty
therapist had been harshly
treated under Indonesia`s strict
drug laws, even though Corby
7
could have faced the death
penalty for trafficking.
Adding to the drama and public
interest, the court hearings were
broadcast live and included
emotional outbur sts from Corby
and her family when she received
a 20-year sentence.
“Australians became so
besotted with the case,” said
Janine Hosking, who made the
documentary “Ganja Queen”
about Corby`s case. “She doesn`t
look like how we would imagine
a drug trafficker to look; she
looks like the girl next door.”
“People will speculate forever
on this case,” Hosking told
Reuters previously, adding that
the media attention had worked
against her even if it made her
a star.
Corby`s sentence was later cut
June, 2017
after a request for clemency to
then president Susilo Bambang Corby had to keep in close
contact with correctional officers
Yu d h o y o n o a n d s h e w a s
released on parole in 2014.
Under her parole conditions, while living at the Bali home of
her sister Mercedes, trying to stay
out of the public eye as the
media tracked her every move.
According to the head of the
parole office, Surung Pasaribu,
Corby had been fearful of the
constant media coverage, and
he said the Australian
government had asked his office
to ensure her safety ahead of her
departure to Brisbane on
Saturday night.
“All that`s left is to sign some
letters,” Pasaribu said, after which
she will be handed over to
immigration officials at Bali`s
Ngurah Rai airport. “Today, Corby
is free.”
In an Instagram post
(@schapelle.corby) on Saturday,
Corby told her more than 61
thousand followers, “Good bye
to this parole paper work.
Approching (sic) parole office for
the last time.”
India at Melbourne