Free Republic

THE mystery of the car bombing of the Australian Christian Lobby headquarters in Canberra is not going away. ACT Policing’s attempt to downplay it as a “car fire” and then to claim, a mere 15 hours later, that it was not “politically, religiously or ideologically motivated” does not satisfy ACL managing director Lyle Shelton. And nor should it. What we know is that on the Thursday night before Christmas, at about 9.30pm, a van packed with six gas cylinders was exploded in Shelton’s marked car parking space outside the ACL office in a business park in Deacon, just three kilometres...

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull broke with much of the international community on Friday, attacking last week’s United Nations Security Council Resolution as “one-sided” and “deeply unsettling.” Turnbull, speaking at a menorah-lighting ceremony at Sydney’s Central Synagogue, said that “Australia stands with Israel. We support Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East,” The Australian Jewish News reported. Turnbull’s comments come after his foreign minister said Thursday Australia would likely have voted against United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlements. …

Newspaper columnist and broadcaster Miranda Devine has said there are too many unanswered questions in relation to the explosion at the Australian Christian Lobby’s headquarters in Canberra. Describing the incident as a “car bombing” Devine said ACT police should be doing more to reassure the public that the incident was not terror related, and that there were too many unanswered questions. ..... Joining Devine and Daily Telegraph writer Tim Blair on the show, Lyle Shelton, the Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, said police had not given him any additional information about the incident, but he was surprised that...

A Sydney council has enforced a summer-long alcohol ban on one of the city’s most popular beaches as a result of “the poor and inappropriate behaviour of a few” on Christmas Day. Coogee beach – a popular destination for backpackers, including many from the UK, on Christmas Day – was left strewn with a reported 15 tonnes of garbage by an estimated 10,000 revellers.

Actor Alec Baldwin has cheekily offered to perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration in January as the president-elect reportedly struggles to secure artists for the ceremony. Baldwin, who parodies Mr Trump on Saturday Night Live, tweeted to Mr Trump yesterday with an offer to sing AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”. The pair have frequently clashed on Twitter over Baldwin’s impersonation of Mr Trump. The president-elect has dismissed the long-running comedy program as “sad” and “totally one-sided” on Twitter. The crew at Saturday Night Live took another dig at Donald Trump, this time having a shirtless Vladimir Putin surprise the President-elect for Christmas....

Statement by The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull MP, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia. I am here with the Minister for Justice, the minister assisting me on counter-terrorism, Michael Keenan, and the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Andrew Colvin, and the Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, Tony Sheehan. As you know, overnight our police and security agencies have disrupted a very substantial terrorist plot. Overnight the Victorian Police working with the Australian Federal Police and ASIO have arrested seven persons, five of whom are still in custody, searched five premises and are continuing to search them. What they have uncovered is...

Victoria Police say they have foiled an ISIS inspired terror attack on Christmas Day in the heart of Melbourne. Terror plotters allegedly planned to attack Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station, Federation Square and St Paul’s Cathedral. Heavily armed police raided homes across Melbourne’s north on Friday morning and made seven arrests. Five men aged between 21 and 26 were arrested... Four of them were born in Australia and are of Lebanese background, while a fifth is an Egyptian-born Australian citizen. One of the men arrested is Zak Dabboussi... His Facebook page is prolific with religious material including quotes from the Koran....

TERRORISTS planned a Christmas Day bomb attack targeting Melbourne landmarks including Federation Square and Flinder Street Station, police claim. A major multi-agency operation between Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and ASIO foiled the alleged plot, with five people in custody. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said in a press conference this morning: “We believe that there was an intention to conduct what we call a multimode attack, possibly on Christmas Day, the possible locations that we have been working on have been Federation Square, Flinders Street Station and St Paul’s Cathedral.

The Australian Christian Lobby insists it won't be silenced by a suspected car bomb at its Canberra office it believes was a deliberate attack on free speech. Windows are blown out and furnishings destroyed at the office in Deakin after it was rammed by a van believed to have been carrying gas bottles about 10.45pm on Wednesday. The group's director, Lyle Shelton, says the apparent bomb follows a year of death threats over its opposition to gay marriage and the Safe Schools program that aims to reduce bullying of gay students. One of those threats was tracked to a person...

A van filled with gas bottles has exploded after it rammed into the headquarters of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) in what the managing director has called an "attack on free speech". ACL managing director Lyle Shelton tweeted the incident last night, saying a vehicle had rammed its office in Canberra just after 9:30pm. Mr Shelton added that staff were safe, and photos he shared showed a burnt-out van in the car park near the building's entrance. It remains unclear whether the incident was an accident or a targeted attack, but ACT police have confirmed they are investigating. Police also...

A van carrying gas bottles has rammed into the Australian Christian Lobby office headquarters and "detonated", according to the organisation. The van was driven into the office building in Canberra late Wednesday night local time, leading to a major police response. The offices are located about 3km from Australian Parliament House in the nation's capital. ACL managing director Lyle Shelton tweeted photos of the aftermath and said that no staff were injured.

It isn’t enough that Muslim migrants are sexually assaulting children, seniors and scores of women throughout Europe, now in Australia, “a rampaging mob of 30 African migrants beat two men senseless during an unprovoked and horrifying attack on a beach.” In recent years, gangs of mostly Sudanese men have terrorised Melbourne suburbs with a spate of burglaries, rape, assault, and carjackings. Police have said the gangs seem to be motivated by pleasure, warning: “Drugs or money aren’t the driver. It’s purely for the fun. They’re getting off on humiliating their victims.” Apparently nothing else is expected of these “wild animals”...

In Australia, and around the world, we have been living this presidential transition with you. We watched the debates on our lunch breaks, we scrolled through news on our phones as the voting results were announced, in the warm light of a spring day. Since the election I have cried many times, in the shower, in the car, as the conventions that define liberal Western democracy are stripped away by Donald J. Trump, with every distressful appointment, each impulsive outburst. I have embarrassment of grief for a government that is not mine and for a country that does not belong...

AU News reports Government Floats $100 Note Removal. “SAY goodbye to the $100 note. Australia looks set to follow in the footsteps of Venezuela and India by abolishing the country’s highest-denomination banknote in a bid to crack down on the “black economy”. Speaking to ABC radio on Wednesday, Revenue and Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer flagged a review of the $100 note and cash payments over certain limits as the government looks to recoup billions in unpaid tax. “The whole point of this crackdown on the black economy is to make sure we close down any potential loopholes,” she said....

The education department is investigating teachers at a Sydney school after Year three students were made to launch a petition against child refugees in detention. The NSW Department of Education is investigating a petition from Year 3 students at Helensburgh Public School, south of Sydney. In the petition sent to politicians students as young as nine-years-old said they were heartbroken after being told of 'trapped' children living in 'detention like-like conditions,' The Daily Telegraph reported. The letter from class 3L signed 'Friends of Children in Detention' reads: 'There are more than one hundred children on Nauru, who are living in...

AUSTRALIA’S 12 new submarines will be the most “potent weapon” the nation has ever known featuring lethal technology designed to assert the nation’s space in the world. That’s according to Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne who said the addition of 12 Shortfin Barracuda submarines to Australia’s arsenal will reassure President-elect Donald Trump the country is not shirking its military duties by being “strategic bludgers”. Mr Pyne’s visit to the sprawling military-style factory was a chance for the Minister to see for himself the kind of facilities that will be built in Adelaide where the submarines will be created over the...

AUSTRALIA’S 12 new submarines will be the most “potent weapon” the nation has ever known featuring lethal technology designed to assert the nation’s space in the world. That’s according to Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne who said the addition of 12 Shortfin Barracuda submarines to Australia’s arsenal will reassure President-elect Donald Trump the country is not shirking its military duties by being “strategic bludgers”. ..... The 4500 tonne vessel will be 97 metres long and fit 60 crew. It will be conventionally powered unlike its nuclear-powered French equivalent, and has been chosen for its stealth capability, size and jet-propulsion technology....

A Sydney monument commemorating the suffering of women forced into sexual slavery during World War II is the subject of a complaint by a Japanese advocacy group under section 18C of Radical Discrimination Act. The statue — unveiled at the Ashfield Uniting Church in ­August — remembers more than 200,000 women and girls who were forced by the Imperial Japanese Army into prostitution. The decision to erect the “comfort women” monument raised tension between Japanese and Korean communities, and this week the Australia-Japan Community Network lodged an 18C complaint against the church with the Australian Human Rights Commission. AJCN claims...

Chinese-Australian businessman Huang​ Xiangmo​, who has strong links to the Chinese embassy... has warned Australia will be "slaughtered" like a sheep if it does not build relations with Beijing in a post-Trump world. The comments come as Donald Trump suggested his future US government would consider walking away from the "One China policy" or using it as bargaining chip over their currency and trade – a move likely to antagonise Beijing. The comments published in an opinion piece on a Mandarin-language website said Mr Trump's controversial call with Taiwan's President Tsai​ Ing-wen signalled the US President-elect may continue to "intensify...

THE NEW York Times has launched a blistering attack on Australia’s controversial asylum seeker policy, slamming Immigration Minister Peter Dutton as our “own little Trump”. The weekend feature, called ‘Broken Men in Paradise’, sees Times op-ed columnist Roger Cohen speaking to various detainees on Manus Island and Nauru, and human rights lawyers. His article deems Australia’s policy of offshore detention a “growing embarrassment” to the country, concluding that Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is Australia’s version of President-election Donald Trump. “The government says it has prevented deaths like those in the Mediterranean, where more than 4,000 migrants have drowned this year,”...