Free Republic

Australia has issued a blanket ban on visas from West African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak to prevent the disease reaching the country, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said, becoming the first rich nation to shut its doors to the region.

<p>Three men attempted to enter Australia’s Parliament House on Monday wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood, a niqab and a motorcycle helmet said they were unfairly treated under new regulations on Muslim face veils.</p> <p>The men want Muslim veils that cover the face banned from the nation’s seat of government and said their stunt exposed inequality in the security system that allows visitors to be so dressed.</p>

AN 18-year-old woman quarantined in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital with a fever has tested negative for Ebola. Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young announced the negative results this morning. It is understood the woman will now undertake a second round of testing. Dr Young said the 18-year-old would undergo a second Ebola test on Wednesday. She said further tests were yet to reveal another cause for the teenager’s fever. “She’ll now remain in isolation in the RBWH to have a second test done on Wednesday,” Dr Young said. “She remains well at this stage. Her family, who...

NINETEEN people are being isolated in home quarantine in Brisbane as a precaution against spreading the Ebola virus, as a teenage woman undergoes tests for the deadly disease in hospital. The 18-year-old is being kept in an isolation ward at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital after developing a fever yesterday.She arrived in Australia 12 days ago from Conakry in Guinea, with eight members of her extended family, including six children.MOCKING TWEETS: NSW MP makes fun of Queensland Ebola scareAUSSIE UNDER WATCH: Man told to stay at Thai homeKILLER VIRUS: New York doctor tests positive for EbolaThe group is...

First up tonight at the DfB Theater is of the finest movies ever to come out of Australia. Edward Woodward turns in a superb performance in this true story about the real-life exploits - and still controversial - court martial of Harry "Breaker" Morant, an officer fighting on the side of the British during the Boer Wars in South Africa. Co-starring Bryan Brown (Cocktail, the F/X movies). In English with foreign subtitles.

“Skirt-fronting” could well become the new buzz word in international diplomacy The possibility of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott shirt-fronting Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Brisbane next month over the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH 17 in Ukrainian sovereign territory with the loss of all on board - including 38 Australians - has receded following Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s 25 minute meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Asian Europe Summit held in Milan this week. Abbott had vowed: “I’m going to shirtfront Mr Putin. I am going to be saying to Mr...

FORMER prime minister Gough Whitlam, who died this morning aged 98, has been hailed as a “generous father” and a “source of inspiration” for millions.

JAPAN is preparing to change the sub-surface propulsion system for its Soryu submarines, dumping German and Swedish technology in a move that could clear a potential barrier to Australia purchasing the Japanese boats. Tokyo’s plans to switch from the Kockums propulsion system to specially developed lithium ion batteries eliminates the potential embarrassment for Australia in ­rejecting German and Swedish bids in favour of using a sub that is powered by their intellectual property. The Kockums air-independent propulsion (AIP) system was designed in Sweden but licensed to Kawasaki Heavy Industries to incorporate into the Soryu class to power the subs on...

New Iraqi defense minister Khaled al-Obeidi has delivered his first official speech, insisting that the Kurdistan Region must hand back terrorists that have been living in the KRI. Al-Obeidi is a Sunni, was approved as the new Iraqi defense minister along with Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, a Shia, who was appointed interior minister. “The Kurdistan Region should hand back criminals who have been charged with terrorist acts to the federal government, so they can face justice,” said Al-Obeidi. “The Kurdistan Region security forces and Iraqi police should arrest all those criminals, as they are threats to the security and stability of...

Whew. Doesn’t that sound so much better?Every now and then we get a conservative case for a carbon tax, an idea so terrible that even Australian labor has given up on it. The idea mainly involves finding other names for it. Carbon tax sounds so taxing. How about Carbon net tax benefit? Carbon earned income tax credit? Now we’re going with 100 Percent Returnable Emissions Tax.

Melbourne-based biotech manufacturer CSL says it is looking at how it can help fight the deadly Ebola virus. According to AAP, the blood plasma product and vaccine maker is talking with the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the possibly of it helping collect antibodies from the blood of survivors of the virus. ...

AN EXCLUSION zone has been set up around the Cerberus naval base on the Mornington Peninsula after potentially explosive materials were found in accommodation. A 400m radius around the Crib Point has been shut off after the discovery in a residential unit. Police bomb response officers and arson detectives are at the scene. A Defence member who lives in the unit at the centre of the drama has been arrested. Victoria Police would not specify the materials found in the unit. A Defence statement said: “A routine inspection this morning of on-base accommodation in HMAS Cerberus has resulted in hazardous...

It has been widely reported that in the lead up to the 2015 Defence White Paper, Prime Minister Tony Abbott ordered Defence to assess the benefits of F-35B jump jets and converting the Canberra class Landing Helicopter Docks (LHD) to accommodate them. Previously, the RAAF was committed to buying only the F-35A version of the Joint Strike Fighter. Writing in the academic blog, The Conversation, in June, Stephen L Jones opined that if Australia was serious about buying the jump jet version of the JSF, it would be wise to look at why the UK is the only country to...

Like every other western nation, Australia has their own concerns about terrorist incursion and illegal immigration. They are sometimes perceived as having somewhat of an advantage in this area because they are an island nation, so there is no physical border fence to maintain. But they’ve got an incredibly huge coastline to control and smugglers frequently try to bring small boats ashore to deliver illegal immigrants. The government has put out a renewed message, letting foreigners know in no uncertain terms that the welcome mat is not out. Australian authorities have published a graphic campaign, seemingly aimed at deterring asylum...

The Australian government will not send doctors or nurses to west Africa to help contain the Ebola crisis until it is certain “all of the risks are being properly managed”, the prime minister, Tony Abbott, has said. SNIP---- International health organisations such as Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) have criticised the Abbott government’s “underwhelming” response to the outbreak, which has included cash grants to MSF, the World Health Organisation and British front line efforts in Sierra Leone – but no Australian medical personnel. SNIP--- But Abbott said on Sunday that the latest death toll would not change the government’s view on...

Julie Bishop will not let the workers go to west Africa until treatment and evacuation plans are in place Australia will not send health workers to Ebola outbreak zones until their welfare can be guaranteed.

Police had to intervene at a pro-life protest after a pro-abortion group turned the annual peaceful protest into a chaotic and violent event in Victoria, Melbourne Australia’s second largest city. The Canada Free Press called the pro-abortion protesters, “thugs,” saying: “A group of pro-abortion thugs attacked a pro-life demonstration in Melbourne, Australia, over the weekend as groups across the land took place in activities to promote the ‘40 Days for Life Campaign’. The attack was pre-planned and well co-ordinated with a number of adults being assaulted while police looked on.” The Record said, “Protesters ambushed the annual March for the...

Australian District Court Judge Garry Neilson was recorded as saying that sexual contact between adults and children or siblings may no longer be regarded by society as “unnatural” or “taboo.” Just as same-sex relationships were once considered socially unacceptable, “a jury might find nothing untoward in the advance of a brother towards his sister once she had sexually matured, had sexual relationships with other men and was now ‘available,' not having [a] sexual partner,” he said, as quoted by Australia’s Fairfax Media. Neilson said that the primary reason for incest still being a crime is the high risk of genetic...

The United States and Russia are dangerously close to stumbling into a war over Ukraine that could go nuclear and kill hundreds of millions of people in a single day, a Nobel laureate who is one of the world’s leading experts on the dangers of nuclear weapons warned in Washington this week. “It’s an incredibly dangerous situation. …If there’s a nuclear war tonight, that’s the Northern Hemisphere (of the entire world) gone, Dr. Helen Caldicott told a National Press Club Newsmakers news conference on Wednesday. She was speaking on the topic: “Ukraine: Is Nuclear Conflict Likely?” Caldicott is an Australian...

Like others have done before him, Ismail Al-Wahwah makes clear that Islam is a totalitarian ideology that its proponents intend to inflict on every human being everywhere in the world. The spokesmaniac for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia holds forth:(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Maybe there are Muslims who disagree with him. But if so, they don’t have much influence. People like Al-Wahwah take Islam seriously. Those who don’t have been marginalized. True, these people are savages and probably due to inbreeding appear not to be very bright. But they have numbers, and they believe in their cause. In the long run, that gives them the...