‘Put Palestine back on the map,’ demands Madonna
July 22, 2020

American pop superstar Madonna in France on 26 July 2017

 [Venturelli/Getty Images for LDC Foundation

July 22, 2020 at 2:48 pm

American singer, songwriter and actress Madonna expressed solidarity with Palestine over the weekend in a series of Instagram posts protesting against the removal of the occupied Palestinian territories from Google maps, social media users have said. Madonna’s solidarity with Palestine coincided with the launch of a petition calling on Google to explain its decision, which more than a million people have signed.

The petition denounces Google for the fact that its decision makes it “complicit in the Israeli government’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine.” Israel, established on Palestinian land, is clearly designated, but Palestine does not appear on Google maps. “Why not?” the petitioners asked.

Images circulating on social media show Madonna sharing an image of the the map in question with Palestine missing, with a comment: “Google and Apple have officially removed Palestine from their maps”. She has more than 15 million followers on Instagram. MEMO could not verify the authenticity of the screenshots and has not heard back from Madonna’s team regarding the pictures.

In a second post, the singer expressed her strongest ever solidarity with the Palestinian cause. The 61 year old demanded “Put Palestine back on the map” before adding, “#IStandWithPalestine”.




A third post showed an image of Angela Davis alongside a quote from the icon of the American Civil Rights movement: “Black solidarity with Palestine allows us to understand the nature of contemporary racism more deeply.”

READ: 10 artists hit by human rights criticism over concerts

Davis spoke recently about why the Palestinian cause is so central to the Black Lives Matter movement. She recalled how Palestinian activists had long supported Black Americans’ struggle against racism, and that when she was falsely imprisoned in 1970 the solidarity from Palestine was a major source of comfort for her.

In the past, Madonna has not been as forthcoming with her support for the Palestinian cause. In 2019 she refused to boycott the Eurovision song contest, which was held in Israel. “I’ll never stop playing music to suit someone’s political agenda nor will I stop speaking out against violations of human rights wherever in the world they may be,” she said in a statement at the time.

Israel soldiers destroy Palestinian coronavirus testing centre

July 20, 2020 at 3:44 pm | Published in: Israel, Middle East, News, Palestine

COVID-19 tests are being carried out at the Central Laboratory of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the city of Ramallah, West Bank on March 16, 2020. The total number of coronavirus cases in West Bank climbed to 39. [Issam Rimawi - Anadolu Agency]

July 20, 2020


Israeli soldiers demolished a Palestinian security checkpoint used to test for coronavirus in the occupied West Bank, according to Wafa news agency.

The checkpoint was set up by Palestinian security forces at the entrance to the occupied West Bank city of Jenin to prevent the spread of the virus.

A total of 468 new coronavirus cases and three deaths from the disease were recorded in the occupied Palestinian territories over the past 24 hours, confirmed the Ministry of Health today, leaving the active cases at 8,360 and total deaths at 65.

It added that 40 patients are currently in intensive care units, including three placed on respirators, with no reports of recoveries.

Israeli forces also injured a Palestinian man at the Jenin refugee camp, reported Wafa.

READ: Pro-Israel news outlets ran ‘deepfake’ op-eds in ‘new disinformation frontier’

Local sources said soldiers stormed Jenin and its refugee camp early this morning to arrest activists. Occupation forces shot at Palestinians in the area, according to the reports, injuring one person in the leg.

Two people were arrested before the soldiers left the city and the checkpoint was destroyed.

Despite the coronavirus outbreak, Israeli authorities continue to abuse the most vulnerable Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, as part of decades-long attempts to drive them out of the area, and to similarly mistreat Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

According to B’Tselem, last month saw a spike in Israeli demolitions, which left 151 Palestinians, including 84 minors, homeless – despite the danger of remaining without shelter during a pandemic.

Betsy DeVos Demonstrates How Much Of an Idiot She Is On National Television

Ashley Reese
7/13/20 2:13PM

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is having a tough time defending her convoluted vision for getting the country’s children back into the classroom this fall.

DeVos appeared on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday morning, encouraging children and teachers alike to enter classrooms daily come September, despite the growing case count and the death toll from covid-19 in the United States. When asked if the nation’s schools should follow the Centers for Disease Control’s guidelines on school reopenings, DeVos did what she does best: Dodged the question supplying a frozen smile instead.

“Dr. Redfield [CDC Director] has clearly said that these are recommendations and every situation is going to look slightly different,” DeVos said. “And the key for education leaders... they can figure out what is going to be right for their specific situation.”

The CDC guidelines include deploying new layouts to schools, erecting physical barriers and sneeze guards, discouraging the use of shared objects, thorough disinfectant plans, updated ventilation and water systems, the closure of communal spaces like playgrounds and cafeterias, and more. President Trump derided the CDC’s outline as too “tough” and costly. But DeVos is confident that the CDC’s plan is easy enough for schools to follow, as long as it’s approached as a suggestion rather than a set of hard and fast rules.

“I know for a fact that there are many schools that have been working hard to put together a plan for moving ahead,” DeVos said, adding that she doesn’t want to hear what schools can’t do, but rather what they can do.

CNN’s Dana Bash pressed DeVos repeatedly during the nearly 20-minute long interview as to whether the CDC’s recommendations are actually feasible, especially for those living in covid-19 hotspots. Cases of the fatal virus continue to rise in a majority of states, most notably Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California


DeVos was not deterred, not even when presented with the example of a Christian summer camp in Missouri that was forced to shut down after 41 campers and staffers contracted covid-19. (Currently, 82 cases are linked to the camp).

“It really is a matter of paying attention to good hygiene, following the guidelines around making sure we’re washing hands, wearing masks when appropriate, staying apart at a bit of a distance socially, and doing the things that are common sense approaches,” DeVos said.

Relying on children constantly washing their hands as a means to protect their peers, school faculty, and the families of everyone in the school system is an astronomical burden. But even if every child frequently washed their hands and wore safety equipment, the physical space necessary to separate hundreds or thousands of children so that they’re six feet apart at all times is simply unfeasible for most districts.

This is why Fairfax County in Virginia is suggesting that children learn in the classroom for two days a week and remotely for the rest. School Superintendent Scott Brabrand told CNN that the average amount of space between those within a Fairfax County public school is eight inches. He also said the school system is the size of five Pentagons and that, “You would need another five Pentagons of space to be able to safely accommodate all of the students in Fairfax County Public Schools.”

But DeVos believes this is a cop-out. During a press conference last week, she said the county’s move, “would fail America’s students, and it would fail taxpayers who pay high taxes for their education.” And on State of the Union, DeVos insisted that Fairfax County’s plan was “not valid” and not considered full-time learning, which is incorrect.

Of course, DeVos isn’t interested in narratives about schooling that isn’t done in the classroom, often roping in the struggle of working parents and education starved children as a justification for opening schools. Throughout the embarrassing State of the Union interview, DeVos tried to imply that opposition to school re-openings is opposition to children learning in general. No one wants students to fall behind, and teachers, parents, and students alike are all well aware of the egregious limitations of remote learning, especially for those of lower-income. But that doesn’t negate the dangers posed to resuming classroom instruction in many states that do not have covid-19 under control.

On Sunday, Florida shattered the U.S. covid-19 record by reporting the highest single-day number of new cases since the beginning of the pandemic: A whopping 15,300 new cases, just as Disneyworld re-opens in Orlando, the Republican National Committee revs up for its convention in Jacksonville, and Governor Ron DeSantis compares school re-openings to Floridians grabbing fast food.

“We spent months saying that there were certain things that were essential — that included fast food restaurants, it included Walmart, it included Home Depot,” DeSantis said on Thursday. “If fast food and Walmart and Home Depot... if all that is essential, then educating our kids is absolutely essential.”

This is the asinine logic driving school re-openings in a state that is experiencing a catastrophic covid-19 outbreak, and it’s being validated DeVos, the nation’s education secretary. She even lauded the reopening plan of Miami-Dade County on State of the Union, even though an internal CDC document notes that Florida’s school districts have some of the nation’s most “noticeable gaps” in safe reopening strategies.

From the New York Times:

In a “talking points” section, the material is critical of “noticeable gaps” in all of the K-12 reopening plans it reviewed, though it identified Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma and Minnesota as having the most detailed.

“While many jurisdictions and districts mention symptom screening, very few include information as to the response or course of action they would take if student/faculty/staff are found to have symptoms, nor have they clearly identified which symptoms they will include in their screening,” the talking points say. “In addition, few plans include information regarding school closure in the event of positive tests in the school community.”

Florida’s teachers don’t feel particularly safe either. Neither do the hundreds of thousands of teachers across the country who fear that elected officials are playing politics with their lives.

This, of course, is of no consequence to DeVos, who couldn’t even answer whether or not she had a plan for what should happen if a school experiences a covid-19 outbreak. For DeVos, repeatedly stating that every school district will have different needs was a sufficient answer.

“You are arguing over and over that they should handle this on a local level, but at the same time, as the Secretary of Education, you are trying to push them to do a one-size-fits-all approach which is to go back and re-open schools,” Bash said. “You can’t have it both ways.”

Bash continued to push DeVos, mining for situations in which remote learning would be deemed acceptable. For example: A covid-19 flare-up in a school district. What, then, would DeVos recommend?

A visibly irritated DeVos retorted, “If there’s a short term flare up for a few days, that’s a different situation than planning for an entire school year in anticipation for something that hasn’t happened. Kids have gotta be back in school, they gotta be back in the classroom.”

Given that DeVos described a covid-19 outbreaks as an event that dissipates in a few days, it’s clear that her grasp on the gravity of the pandemic is worse than elementary: It’s irresponsible.

In response to a clip of DeVos’s State of the Union appearance, Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley tweeted, “I wouldn’t trust [DeVos] to care for a house plant let alone my child.”

Frankly, a house plant would make for a better Secretary of Education than DeVos at this point.

Fast Food and Civil Rights: The Surprising History of McDonald’s in Black America

Joyzel Acevedo

Filed to:FRANCHISE: THE GOLDEN ARCHES IN BLACK AMERICA

In Jezebel’s newest series Rummaging Through the Attic, we interview nonfiction authors whose books explore fascinating moments, characters, and stories in history. For this episode we spoke with Marcia Chatelain, author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, a nonfiction work that uncovers the historical relationship between McDonald’s and the fight for civil rights in America.

In early June of this year, the McDonald’s Corporation posted a short video on Twitter that listed the names of several Black victims of police brutality and culminated in the statement, “Black lives matter.” It was introduced with the words, “They were one of us.” Companies engaging in activism as an attempt to seem more in-line with their consumer base than they perhaps actually are isn’t anything new. But what many don’t know about McDonald’s specifically is that its ties to Black communities—whether problematic or beneficial—can be dated all the way back to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Speaking on the white flight phenomenon of the ’50s and ’60s, professor Marcia Chatelain says, “When people think about white flight in America, they often think of housing ... But people often don’t think about economic white flight, and that is the process in which white business owners close their businesses in predominantly black neighborhoods and move to the suburbs. Therefore, taking with them jobs and important tax revenue.” One response to this was to invest in the idea of Black capitalism. “Black capitalism is the ideology that if African-Americans build businesses and their wealth, they will be able to leverage their power for political and social equality.” As white McDonald’s franchise owners closed up shop, McDonald’s looked to members of the Black community to take over those locations, as well as open new ones.

The venture was incredibly successful, resulting in the creation of the National Black McDonald’s Operators Association and, at one point, in McDonald’s being the largest employer of young Black Americans in the country. The success, however, was not without its criticism. “There were some people who were really discerning, who said we can’t become liberated just because we participate in capitalism,” says Chatelain. Most recently, Black McDonald’s operators have reported financial disparities and a lack of equal opportunity between them and their white counterparts. “Capitalism makes every relationship we have complicated, and it challenges us to remember that corporations will never deliver freedom—that people will deliver freedom for ourselves.”

In Franchise, the rise of Black McDonald’s operators is just one part of the relationship between McDonald’s and Black America. “I not only look at McDonald’s as a business in Black neighborhoods,” Chatelain says, “but I also look at the cultural work of McDonald’s, whether it’s sponsoring Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday content, or sponsoring the American Double Dutch League, or developing products that they believed would attract African-American diners.” Chatelain explains how McDonald’s and its Black franchisee owners were pivotal in creating the template on how to market to African-Americans. “The ways that the Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich was advertised using Black vernacular and slang, McDonald’s was doing very similar stuff in the 1970s.”

When asked what a follow-up to Franchise would be called, Chatelain paused. “Does the Hamburglar Really Believe That Black Lives Matter? An Analysis of Fast Food Companies in the Age of George Floyd.”

VIDEO

https://theattic.jezebel.com/fast-food-and-civil-rights-the-surprising-history-of-m-1844442326

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Accuses Ted Yoho Of Using Wife, Daughters as a 'Shield' For His Misogyny

CSPAN VIDEO https://theslot.jezebel.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-accuses-ted-yoho-of-using-wife-1844482456

Ashley Reese

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t want an apology, she wants respect.

On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez delivered a speech at the House of Representatives addressing a verbal attack she received by her Republican colleague, Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida, two days prior. Yoho called Ocasio-Cortez a “fucking bitch” on the steps of Capitol Hill. He was reportedly furious that Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged the correlation between crime and societal neglect and said that “policing is not a solution to crime” during a virtual town hall in June. Yoho also called Ocasio-Cortez “disgusting” and “out of [her] freaking mind.”


Yoho gave a non-apology on the House floor Wednesday, saying that he was sorry for the “abrupt manner of the conversation” he had with Ocasio-Cortez.

“It is true that we disagree on policies and visions for America, but that does not mean we should be disrespectful,” Yoho said.

“Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognizant of my language,” he added. “The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues, and if they were construed that way, I apologize for the misunderstanding.”

Ocasio-Cortez was unimpressed by Yoho using his wife and daughter as a “shield” for his misogyny.

“Mr. Yoho mentioned that he had a wife and two daughters,” Ocasio-Cortez said during her speech. “I am someone’s daughter too. My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. My mother got to see Mr. Yoho’s disrespect on the floor of this house toward me on television. And I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.”

“Having a daughter does not make a man decent,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man.”

Ocasio-Cortez also said that Yoho’s remarks are not unique, but rather a pattern of violent language and bigoted behavior that goes all the way up to the commander in chief himself (who, Ocasio-Cortez reminded viewers, told her and the rest of The Squad to “go back home”).

“I could not allow my nieces, I could not allow the little girls I go home to, I could not allow victims of verbal abuse and worse to see that excuse and to see our Congress accept it as legitimate and accept it as an apology and to accept silence as a form of acceptance.”

Other House Democrats also spoke up in defense of Ocasio-Cortez, like members of The Squad: Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

“Patriarchy is a tool of oppression that’s very much at home in the halls of this powerful institution,” Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said. “Not unlike the hostile working environments and harassment experienced by countless women across the nation who dare to speak truth to power. Today we rise for every woman that has dealt with these dynamics as a conflated part of their walking life.”

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said that this is a matter of respect and fundamental equality.

“Like Alexandria, I was raised by a dignified man who told me that I deserved equality because I was an equal human being to my brothers,” Omar said. “You don’t only respect women because they could be your mother, wife, sister. No, you respect women because they are equal human beings to you.”

Other speakers included Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Rep Brenda Lawrence, Rep. Al Green, Rep Mark Pocan, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rep. Lori Trehan, and more. The theme was consistent: Harassment, belittlement, and abuse might be a facet of the everyday lives of women, including women in the halls of Congress, but it won’t hold them back.

Green said that if he had a daughter, he would want her to be bold, courageous, and speak truth to power like Ocasio-Cortez. It’s that very boldness that has made Ocasio-Cortez a figure of ire from the right, but she continues to take their impudence in stride.

“I want to thank Yoho for showing the world that you can be a powerful man and accost women,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “You can take photos and project images of being a family man and accost women without remorse and a sense of impunity. It happens every day in this country.”


Lady Commentariat
It’s so fucking satisfying to hear her calling out the hypocrisy and non-evidential citing of wives and daughters in these kinds of statements.


Ted Yoho Is as Bad at Grammar as He Is at Apologies

Emily Alford
Yesterday 2:01PM
Filed to:GRAMMAR
For many years of my adult life, I taught freshman composition to groups of brand-new college students terrified of writing and words. One of the first lessons I taught them was a low-stakes version of sentence diagramming wherein they reduced their ideas to one person, place, or thing doing one specific action. For example, “Ted Yoho called.” From there we would work to add elements like direct objects and indirect objects in order to form sentences that would clearly and efficiently relay information to audiences. Building on my first example, “Ted Yoho called” would become “Ted Yoho called Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a fucking bitch.”

One enemy of sentence clarity is passive voice, which makes the subject of a sentence a hapless victim of the verb. New writers often use passive voice to sound more academic, and chickenshit politicians often use it to take no responsibility for their own actions. Here is an example of passive voice: “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was called a fucking bitch at work by an asshole who refuses to accept responsibility for his own words.”

Today, Ted Yoho, the congressman who called Alexandria Ocasio Cortez a fucking bitch, gave an “apology” on the House floor that also served as a master class in using language to distance oneself from one’s own mistakes:

“The offensive name calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues,” Yoho said, “and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding.”

Let’s look at that as if it were a sentence in Yoho’s first draft of a five-paragraph essay in remedial freshman comp.

First, where is the subject? As it stands, the subject in the first independent clause of this compound sentence is “Words.” Now let’s find the verb, or the action word. The verb is “attributed.” But who is attributing these words? The press. So where is Yoho in his own apology? Making a cameo cowering behind a preposition.

My suggestion, were this man to make an appointment to visit me on my office hours in order to detangle his shitty essay, would be to get his nouns as close to his verbs as possible in order to sort out the message he is trying to relay. Here’s a try:


“The press [subject] attributed [verb] offensive name calling [adjectives] words [direct object] never spoken to my colleagues [object complement] to me [Yoho, at long last! Welcome to your own apology!].”

Now in the second clause, we do find our first active subject and verb, “I apologize,” but now we must find what the subject is apologizing for, which seems to be “their misunderstanding.” But who is “they?” the audience might rightly wonder. For more information, let us go to the conditional that begins this sentence: “If they were construed in that way.” So “they” are the “offensive name calling words,” which, according to this labyrinthine sentence, have misunderstood themselves.


In order to repair the second half of this sentence, I would recommend doing away with the pronouns entirely, and moving the subject and verb to the beginning, so that the clause reads this way:


“I apologize for [the press’s] misunderstanding if [the press] misconstrued [my words] that way.”

So now let throw these fun clauses together with a conjunction and have a look at the whole apology, shall we?


“The press attributed offensive name calling words never spoken to my colleagues to me, and I apologize for the press’s misunderstanding if the press misconstrued my words that way.”

While it is awfully generous of Ted Yoho to apologize on behalf of all the press in the world for interpreting the words “fucking bitch” to mean “fucking bitch,” I’m not quite certain this thesis gets to the heart of the assignment, which was to apologize for harassing a woman at work.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Accuses Ted Yoho Of Using Wife ...

https://theslot.jezebel.com › alexandria-ocasio-cortez-accuses-ted-yoho-of-...

2 hours ago - New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn't want an ... Ted Yoho Of Using Wife, Daughters as a 'Shield' For His Misogyny.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out 'Culture of Misogyny'

https://www.complex.com › life › 2020/07 › alexandria-ocasio-cortez-calls...

15 mins ago - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed the "abusive language" of Trump-loving Republican Congressman Ted Yoho, as well as the "culture of misogyny" that enables it, in a moving speech from the House ... She also criticized Yoho using his wife and daughters in his apology as a shield for his behavior.

'I Could Not Allow That To Stand': Ocasio-Cortez ... - NPR

https://www.npr.org › 2020/07/23 › i-could-not-allow-that-to-stand-ocasio-c...

2 hours ago - Ted Yoho, R-Fla., earlier this week. ... Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, seen here in March, spoke on the House floor ... an increasing acceptance of dehumanizing and misogynistic language ... Yoho said, "Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I'm ... Having a wife does not make a decent man.

AOC admonishes GOP congressman in fiery speech: 'I am ...

https://www.nbcnews.com › politics › congress › aoc-admonishes-gop-con...

3 hours ago - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Thursday addressed Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., for his remarks after berating the congresswoman ... She also lambasted Yoho for "using women, our wives and daughters as shields and ...

Ocasio-Cortez: 'Having a daughter does not make a man decent'

https://americanindependent.com › National

7 hours ago - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to the House floor Thursday morning to chastise Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL), who earlier in the week had verbally. ... and daughters to deny that he used the misogynistic slur against the congresswoman. ... with him using his wife and daughters as a shield for his behavior.

Ocasio-Cortez delivers emotional floor speech slamming Rep ...

https://1010wcsi.com › fox-politics › ocasio-cortez-delivers-emotional-floo...

1 hour ago - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, backed by a team of supportive ... TED YOHO APOLOGIZES ON HOUSE FLOOR AFTER PROFANE COMMENT ABOUT AOC ... and instead used his wife and daughters as “shields” and “excuses for poor behavior ... “We are here to say that we will not allow sexism, misogyny and ...

AOC Upbraids Republican Ted Yoho After He Denies Vulgarly ...

https://www.nytimes.com › U.S. › Politics

21 hours ago - Representative Ted Yoho apologized for the tone of a run-in with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but denied calling her a misogynistic ...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasts Ted Yoho over confrontation ...

https://www.cbsnews.com › news › alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ted-yoho-hou...

3 hours ago - Yoho reportedly called Ocasio-Cortez a profane name on the steps of the ... he gave permission to use that language against his wife, his daughters, ... Yoho actually said "bulls**t" and accused Ocasio-Coretz of "using this ...

People Applaud AOC's Speech Slamming Rep. Ted Yoho For ...

https://god.dailydot.com › aoc-responds-yohos-apology

43 mins ago - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was not impressed by Ted Yoho's ... Instead, he apologized for others, accusing them of misunderstanding him. ... Instead, she focused on his use of his wife and two daughters as shields against accusations of sexist ... The moment for reckoning with misogyny and harassment, ..

AUSTRALIA
DFAT axes contractual workers as budget faces 'structural problems'

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has axed dozens of contract staff as it faces mounting internal anxieties over its financial woes.

FAILURE OF OUTSOURCING/CONTRACTING OUT

By foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic ABC

A former DFAT staffer says contractors are "not conducive" to maintaining successful diplomatic relationships.(Supplied: DFAT/John Gollings)

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has axed dozens of contract staff as it faces mounting internal anxieties over its financial woes.

Key points:
One contractor told the ABC about 100 people had been let go, following 60 full-time staff
The Opposition has criticised the Federal Government's increased use of outside contractors
DFAT's head has said the department faces "significant pressure" on its budget, especially in light of COVID-19

Last week, the department said it would cut 60 full-time positions — 50 in Canberra and 10 overseas — to help it cope with a budget shortfall.

DFAT said it would hit that target through natural attrition rather than sacking officials.

However the ABC has been told DFAT has separately terminated several contract staffers in recent weeks, including those working in information technology (IT) and policy roles.

A former DFAT contractor told the ABC small groups of people were pulled into meetings and informed their contracts were being terminated or ended because of "budget constraints".

It is not clear how many contractors have been removed.

A second former contractor estimated about 100 people had been axed, while a third said the figure could be higher than that.

DFAT's repatriation efforts

In only a matter of days, DFAT mounted one of the largest and most complex consular exercises this country has ever undertaken to bring as many Australians home as possible due to COVID-19.Read more

In a statement, a spokesperson from the department said: "DFAT continues to be properly resourced to deliver consular and passport services, and deliver on the Government’s foreign policy, trade and development agenda.


"We also continue to responsibly manage our budget to enable us to remain on a sustainable financial footing in these difficult economic times."

The controversy has also highlighted internal unease about the way the department has used contract labour to do core diplomatic work.

While the vast majority of policy roles in DFAT are still held by full-time public servants, the ABC has been told some DFAT managers facing staffing constraints have been forced to use contractors to "fill the gap".

"Casual contracts are not conducive to maintaining enduring diplomatic relationships," one former DFAT staffer told the ABC.

Controversy over contractors is not limited to DFAT — Labor has criticised the Coalition for spending at least $2 billion on outside contractors in the past six years, accusing it of wasting money in order to avoid arbitrary staffing caps.
Some commentators have urged the Government to boost funding for Australia's diplomatic efforts.(Reuters: Darren Ornitz)
Critics say DFAT inadequately funded to fulfill operations

While DFAT has grappled with financial pressures for several years, the debate over its budget has flared suddenly in the past two weeks.

Several foreign policy heavyweights have urged the Government to boost funding for the department, saying it does critical work and needs more money to effectively tackle the expanding array of geopolitical challenges facing Australia.

Public sector unions and the Federal Opposition have also accused the Coalition of running down Australia's diplomatic network.

Asia literacy at risk


As a hard-won free trade agreement with Indonesia comes into effect, and concerns grow about Australia's economic reliance on China, experts warn Australia's Asia literacy is likely to suffer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Read more

One official told the ABC DFAT's budget was facing "structural problems".

They said the Federal Government had directed the department to expand its operations in several key areas but had not given DFAT additional funding to cover it.

The coronavirus pandemic has also placed financial pressure on the department, which has provided flights and accommodation to several-hundred overseas staffers and family members.

Last week, the acting secretary of DFAT told staff in a memo "the department's budget continues to be under significant pressure and this will only increase".

That memo was leaked to the media, frustrating senior officials.

Earlier this week, DFAT secretary Frances Adamson warned staff not to send internal notes to the press.

Related Stories

DFAT to slash 60 positions to cope with increased budget pressures


Federal bureaucracy dismissed thousands of staff just before the pandemic hit


The growing list of companies shedding jobs in coronavirus-hit economy


How the Government is bringing thousands of Australians home during a pandemic

AUSTRALIA
Drones for mustering improves safety and efficiency on rural properties

QLD Country Hour / By Meg Bolton

Will Wilson says his cattle don't mind being moved by drone.

(ABC Rural: Meg Bolton)


Mustering at Calliope Station, in central Queensland, looked a little different this year. Instead of employing three men on quad bikes, Will Wilson did the job single-handed with a drone.

Key points:

One station owner used drones to muster cattle this year and says it's a safer alternative than horses and quad bikes

Quad bikes are a leading cause of deaths and injuries on farms in Australia
Drones are also being used to check crops and water levels

Mr Wilson is one of hundreds of Queensland farmers now using drone technology to make their operations safer and more efficient.

"We are noticing on paddocks that are 3,000 acres and less, they're pretty efficient, save a fair bit of labour, and it make it safer for the men because they're not put at risk," Mr Wilson said.

"We have had injuries off motorbikes before and obviously horses before that [but] so far I've crashed a drone a few times and I still haven't hurt myself."
A safe alternative

Quad bikes are a leading cause of deaths and injuries on farms in Australia, prompting State and Federal Governments to impose safety regulations.

Farmsafe Australia chairman Charlie Armstrong said drones had the potential to make agriculture safer, which was the focus of Farm Safety Week from July 20 to 25.

"Anything that can substitute for a dangerous vehicle or a dangerous machine such as a quad bike and do the job just as effectively is obviously valuable," he said.
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"Rollovers occur from mostly unforeseen circumstances and the stability of the machine.

"One engineer described quad bikes as 'being more stable upside down than the right side up' so that gives you an indication of how easy it is to roll.

"The more we can be thinking about safety and thinking about what could happen, the better off we will be, and many more people will come home for dinner at night."
Cattle friendly

Mr Wilson says drones reduced mustering to a one-man job, and were safer and more labour efficient than quad bikes.(ABC Rural: Meg Bolton)

Mr Wilson said while reducing mustering to a one-man job was safer and more labour efficient, the drone also had a positive effect on the cattle.

"Cattle build a better methodology about humans and work better with you," he said.

"We try to not move our weaners with anything but the drones and it changes their way of thinking [as] they're not running and scared.

"They get to understand when this thing, 'Louie the Fly', is buzzing in their ear, they're probably going to get some fresher foods and it certainly helps their mentality."

Mr Wilson said the cattle responded to the drone like they would a swarm of flies.

"It doesn't seem to be about the size or the noise, it's just an annoying fly that they move together," he said.

"If you have a fly problem, cattle will mob up and this is just a big one of them and it happens to push them in the right direction."

Creating new roles

Mr Wilson had flown drones for the past three years but this year was his first complete muster. He said it could become a permanent practice.

"I'm thinking seriously about a position of someone mustering with the drone full time actually … so it's a new type of job, I guess," he said.

But he said there was a limit to what drones could achieve.

"I'm damn sure the drone can't put the cattle through the yard, so that's something that's not a robotic efficiency, it's a human thing and we aren't going to get better than that," he said.

Mr Wilson said it cost $1 per kilometre to fly a drone, factoring in battery life and the replacement of broken drones, with the cost of drone mustering in a 600-hectare paddock around $20.

"They're fairly easy to maintain. All you need is a screwdriver and a soldering iron and you can fix most mistakes," he said.
Becoming the new norm

Meg Kummerow saw a need to help farmers use drones more effectively, when she set up her business Fly the Farm.

Meg Kummerow saw a need to help farmers use drones more effectively, when she set up her business Fly the Farm.(ABC Southern Queensland: David Chen)

"Drones are becoming more popular within agriculture and it's all to do with productivity and profitability," Ms Kummerow said.

"If farmers can see a benefit, they will bring new technology into their business."

Farmers were also using drones to check crop health and water levels.

"Particularly when it comes to cropping, drones can provide imagery that a human can't see, and in cattle or livestock it may replace a helicopter or a man on a horse or a bike," she said.

Ms Kummerow said drones would become the norm as the technology developed.

"They will grow in popularity as battery technology gets better and they can fly for longer," she said.

"The drone will be something else that they can use in the future. It will be another tool in their toolbox."

Bat woman: Ebony shares a house with some of Australia's most misunderstood creatures

ABC Science / By Zoe Kean
Posted Tuesday 14 July 2020 

If you spot a bat that has little eyes and big ears chances are it's a microbat.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

A "normal" evening in Ebony McIntosh's world often involves grooming tiny bats with a toothbrush, or perhaps watching one zoom around her lounge room.

The trained wildlife nurse is one of only a handful of Australians qualified to rehabilitate sick and injured microbats.

She got hooked on wildlife caring at age 11 after raising her first possum joey.

Ebony McIntosh has been caring for animals since she was 11 years old.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

But it wasn't until she started caring for flying foxes in Brisbane when she was 20 that she fell in love with bats and her life changed forever.

"[Bats are] definitely my biggest passion," she says.

Over the past six years she's cared for up to 150 bats at once in her home.

And as if sharing your house with bats wasn't enough, Ebony has done it while living in an actual share house.

So what's involved in bat rescue?

Hang on ... what's a microbat?

Australia has two types of bats: megabats such as flying foxes and microbats.

If you spot a bat that has little eyes and big ears, chances are it's a microbat.

There are around 80 species of microbat found across Australia.

While most microbats are tiny — many of Ebony's winged patients only weigh around 4 grams — some species such as ghost bats are the size of flying foxes.

But unlike their megabat cousins, which use their eyesight to get around, microbats use sound or echolocation to find their prey — usually insects.

A tiny microbat sits on the fingers of a carer.(Supplied: Andrew Knott)

People often only become aware they are sharing an environment with a microbat when one turns up in trouble.

"At the end of summer juveniles are learning to fly, so you get a lot of crash landings, particularly in homes," Ebony says.

"When you get really hot, dry days, people find them stuck in water, sometimes in water bowls or the kitchen sink."


"We get a lot of people calling up about a little semi-drowned bat in the bath."

Winter can also be a danger time, when bats go in and out of a mini-hibernation state called torpor.

"If they don't have enough fat supplies, they can get stuck in this state, sometimes in odd places," Ebony says.

"People will find bats on a wall and think it will go away, but it still sitting there a week later."
From rescue to rehab via ICU

When Ebony is alerted about a bat in trouble she heads to the rescue equipped with a special first aid kit that contains a soft pouch, rubber bands and a mini-wheat bag.

"It's important to start warming the bat straight away so that by the time I am home it will be warm enough to start fluid therapy (tiny amounts of fluids injected under the skin) and begin an assessment."

Things can be touch and go for a recently rescued bat.

If it looks like it is strong enough to survive it will be placed straight into a humidicrib to regulate its temperature and given fluids twice a day.


"If I had a very critically ill bat that needed checking regularly through the night I would keep it set up in my bedroom," she says.

Microbats will often enter a state of torpor when injured.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

The humidicrib stops the bat going into torpor, which is where the bats' metabolic rate and physiological activity slow right down.

"[In torpor] the healing process stops, and they can't metabolise medication. So, we have to keep them at about 32 degrees [Celsius]."

After a couple of weeks in the humidicrib it's time for boot camp and flight school.

The little bats graduate from fluids to a diet of meal worms.

And just like an injured footy player, they need rehabilitation and physio before they re-enter the fray to rebuild their strength and flying capacity.

Many bats are surprisingly clumsy with a large "turning circle", this means despite their tiny size they need a big space to flap about in so Ebony's lounge room becomes recovery flight HQ.

After a stint in ICU it's time for flight school in Ebony's lounge room.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

What's it like sharing your house with microbats?

Living with bats obviously has its challenges.

They're nocturnal for a start, and love to fly, meaning no matter how bat-proof Ebony makes an enclosure there is always a risk of escape.

"They do turn up though, usually on the curtains or in the kitchen sink," she says.


"Once I had my keep cup sitting by the sink in the morning and there was a little bat hanging in it."

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia...was such a popular bat she was immortalised with tattoos.(Supplied: Ebony McIntosh)

Luckily, she's always managed to find housemates who are eager to share the joys of cohabiting with her bat patients.

"Usually it's been something that everyone in the house contributes to in some way," she says.

One particular bat called Marcia lived with Ebony for over a year before being released.

"She was a wonderful sassy little bat," Ebony says.

Marcia made such an impression on the share house that all the housemates got tattoos in her honour.
What about disease?

"Bats get a really bad rap. I think people see these things flying around and think they're terrifying," says Ebony.

But even as a wildlife carer, the risk of getting sick from bats is very low.


"Disease often comes from the animal trade because you have a lot of animals [close together] that are really stressed and shouldn't be consumed," Ebony says.

But, she stresses, if you see an injured bat do not to touch it. Call your local wildlife rescue group.

When a bat is first rescued it goes through a period of quarantine, and "rehabbers", like Ebony, are careful to only touch a bat while wearing protective gloves during this time.

If a bat scratches or bites someone, by law it has to be euthanised as that's the most efficient way to test for viruses.

"As someone who loves bats, I would never take the risk of getting bitten or scratched by them — it's a death sentence for the bat," she says.
Why save a bat?

They might be tiny, but they can eat their weight in insects each night.(ABC RN: Ann Jones)

It takes a lot of love and dedication to nurse a bat back to health, but is it worth it?

Microbats play a key role in the environment, predominantly controlling insect numbers, says Lisa Cawthen who studies Tasmanian bats.

"One little microbat will go out and eat up to half its body weight in insects per night," Dr Cawthen says.

"That helps our forests be healthy and helps agriculture by providing natural pest control."

But nearly half of all the microbat species across Australia are threatened.

If we cut down a tree and a colony of breeding bats are injured, that could be the entire breeding population for a species in that area," Dr Cawthen says.

"By rehabilitating them, we're giving them the best chance to go back and play that important role in the ecosystem for generations to come."

Bats are very family orientated so when they recover, they are released in the exact place they were found.

"You don't just open a box and they fly out like a bird," explains Ebony.

"They sit on a pouch that you hold above your head.

"They start chattering away and once they hear their family they fly off."

"They are the best animal to release ever."

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