Elon Musk’s platform X plummets in popularity with Brits who ‘get turned off’ by racy vidsHome Affairs Minister Tony Burke with Anthony Albanese (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch) In 2017, the Labor opposition argued against a Coalition proposal to allow a minister to declare certain items in immigration detention prohibited. It opposed the idea again in 2020. Now, the Labor government has introduced its own bill, with the exact same name as the ones the party previously opposed: the Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill. “It’s still, in substance, very much the Coalition’s bill from 2017 and 2020,” Asylum Seeker Resource Centre deputy chief executive Jana Favero told Crikey. An asylum seeker saw no way out of Australia’s immigration purgatory. The numbers paint a bleak picture Read More “Labor’s condemnation of the earlier bills was quite widespread, but they’ve only tinkered with some elements in the current version of the bill — and they’ve done it in such a rushed way that there has never been time to properly scrutinise the safeguards they say they’re bringing in.” Addressing the 2020 bill in Parliament, then shadow multicultural affairs minister Andrew Giles complained the proposed ability to seize phones was unnecessary because “the government already has the powers it needs”. He also asserted that the Coalition’s argument that many in immigration detention have criminal histories wasn’t enough of a justification for “not treating people as individuals on their own terms”, and said that “phones generally provide a positive benefit to detainees and their welfare”. “Of course, access to mobile phones also provides an important wide benefit in enabling the scrutiny of conditions and conduct at immigration detention facilities. It is concerning that this is not an issue of any significant interest to the government,” he said. Giles, who was appointed multicultural affairs and immigration minister in 2022 before the roles were taken over by Tony Burke earlier this year, did not speak on Labor’s own version of the bill when it was introduced last week. But Burke did, and his arguments for the bill were remarkably similar to the ones the Liberals made in 2020. “Over recent years, asylum seekers have been replaced in immigration detention by individuals who have had their visa cancelled on character grounds, who often have serious criminal histories ... there have been incidents of criminals in detention facilities using encrypted messaging services to run drug trafficking and other organised crime activities,” Burke said last Thursday. “Officers need extended powers, including the power to search and seize communications devices to stop this from happening.” Mobile phones are mentioned in the new bill’s explanatory memorandum as one of the examples of items that may be determined prohibited by a minister. But Burke told Parliament he wanted to make it clear the bill would not establish a blanket prohibition on phones. “To ensure the rights of detainees to engage in communications with others outside of the detention facilities are maintained, if the thing that is seized is a mobile phone or communication device, the detainee will be provided with an alternative device until such time as their device is returned,” Burke said. “This will ensure there is no impact on their ability to contact their friends and family or to engage in any other lawful communication under their constitutionally implied rights.” Landmark detention ruling latest in long line of costly asylum seeker legal battles Read More Favero said the vow detainees would get an alternative means of communication wasn’t enough to assuage critics of the bill. “They haven’t guaranteed what that alternative would be, and it looks like it will be discretionary and up to the guards,” she said. “What if you have complained about the guard, and then that guard is the one who doesn’t give you back your phone? The safeguards are not in there to protect the rights and liberties of people in immigration detention.” Favero said she was concerned Labor was trying to “rewrite history to make it look like they have addressed all their original concerns”. “The only thing that has changed is that Labor wants to get reelected, and they’re looking at what happened in the US election and have decided to target refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the hope of winning votes.” The item prohibition bill will be brought to the Senate as part of a package that also includes a bill that would allow the Australian government to deport people to countries that have agreed to house them in exchange for payment . A third bill in the package includes a provision that would give a minister the discretionary personal power to designate a nation as a “removal concern country” , which would prohibit people from that country from applying for an Australian visa. The latter power has been compared to US president Donald Trump’s 2017 travel ban. “It’s absolutely a fair comparison — you’re looking at listing certain countries to bar [people from there] from entry,” Favero said. The package is scheduled to be voted on in the Senate on Thursday afternoon. Patricia Rushton, a lawyer whose PhD thesis on Australia’s Migration Act will be published as a book next year, said she believed Labor was moving the bills with Coalition support in order to preempt a “stranger danger campaign” by the opposition at the next election. “I suppose we get the politicians we vote for,” she told Crikey . “We ask almost every person who comes to Australia to sign onto what we call the Australian values, and those values talk about compassion and fairness. I think Australia needs to face up to what we want and who we are, and not pretend one minute we’re compassionate and fair and the next minute act in the opposite way.” Have something to say about this article? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au . Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say . We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
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DRINK-spiking is to become a specific criminal offence, with predators more likely to be jailed, PM Sir Keir Starmer will announce today. The aim is to simplify the current system where spiking comes either under assault, or part of the Offences Against the Person Act . Workers across the night-time economy will be taught how to prevent incidents, support victims and help cops collect evidence. This will allow officers to provide a quicker and more effective response for victims. The training will be rolled out to 10,000 bar staff by the end of the year. Nearly 7,000 incidents were reported in England and Wales last year but the real figure is understood to be significantly higher. Read More on Politics Sir Keir said: “We know it can be incredibly difficult for victims to come forward to report this awful crime, and these cases can be very hard to prosecute. "I made a promise that, if elected, I’d make spiking a new criminal offence. "Today, I am proud to have come good on that pledge. “Today, I will bring together police chiefs, heads of industry and transport bosses to demand coordinated action to stop women being targeted, whether they are out with friends or simply travelling home. Most read in The Sun “Cracking down on spiking is central to that mission. “We must do more to bring the vile perpetrators who carry out this cowardly act, usually against young women and often to commit a sexual offence, to justice." Home Office minister Jess Phillips said: “Spiking is a diabolical act. “While the risk may be heightened during the festive season, it’s a threat that exists year-round." By JESS PHILLIPS, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls AS Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, one of the threats I’m most concerned about is spiking . It is a diabolical act, and while the risk may be heightened in the festive season, it’s a threat all year round. Let there be no doubt — it is a crime whether it is in a bar, club or friend’s house. The effects can last a lifetime. For too long, spiking has not been treated with the seriousness it merits. It is time to change that.Syrian government forces withdraw from central city of Homs as insurgent offensive accelerates
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Bryce Thompson scored 17 points and achieved a milestone as Oklahoma State defeated Miami 80-74 on Friday afternoon in a Charleston Classic consolation game in Charleston, S.C. Thompson made 6-of-14 shots from the floor, surpassing 1,000 points for his career at Oklahoma State (4-1), which also got 15 points from Marchelus Avery. The Cowboys won in large part thanks to their impressive 3-point shooting (10-for-22, 45.5 percent). Oklahoma State backup guard Arturo Dean, a Miami native, posted eight points and one steal. He led the nation in steals last season while playing for Florida International. Miami (3-2) has lost two straight games in Charleston, failing to take a lead at any point. They will play on Sunday against either Nevada or VCU. The Hurricanes on Friday were led by Nijel Pack, who had a game-high 20 points. Brandon Johnson had a double-double for Miami with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Matthew Cleveland scored 11 points and Lynn Kidd and Paul Djobet added 10 points apiece for Miami. Miami, which fell behind 7-0 in Thursday's loss to Drake, got behind 9-0 on Friday as Abou Ousmane scored six of his eight points. Oklahoma State stretched its lead to 18 before settling for a 43-27 advantage at the break. Pack led all first-half scorers with 10 points, but Miami shot just 29.6 percent from the floor, including 3-of-13 on 3-pointers (23.1). Oklahoma State shot 48.4 percent, including 8-for-15 on 3-pointers (53.3 percent) before intermission. The Cowboys also had a 14-8 edge in paint points. In the second half, Miami closed its 20-point deficit to 55-42 with 12:12 left. Miami got a bit closer as two straight short jumpers by Kidd, trimming the deficit to 73-62 with 3:25 to play. The Hurricanes cut it to 77-70 on Pack's 3-pointer with 34 seconds remaining, but the Cowboys hit their free throws to close out the win. --Field Level MediaNetball at CSI on the riseAfter years of lagging returns and more recent concerns over U.S. office loans, has turned a corner with investors. Chief executive Victor Dodig says he won’t put that at risk with acquisitions that reduce shareholder value. “The investor sentiment fundamentally says that CIBC is a changed bank,” Dodig said in an interview with Bloomberg News. This, he said, comes after a steady focus on courting affluent Canadians as clients, investing in technology and digitization and targeting privately owned businesses and entrepreneurs in the U.S. Dodig, 59, who has led Canada’s fifth-largest bank for more than a decade, laid out the bank’s relatively straightforward strategy at CIBC’s most recent investor day in June 2022. “We don’t want to be doing something large that would make us take a step back,” Dodig said last week, adding that he remains open to an “interesting” acquisition that improves return on equity. “But it really is focused on organic growth and tuck-in acquisitions, particularly in the wealth-management space, which are capital light and would strengthen our hand in a business that we’re very good at,” he said. CIBC’s revamped strategy wasn’t an immediate success. The lender was initially dogged by a reputation for costly mistakes in the past — it was caught up in ’s bankruptcy and took big writedowns on securities linked to U.S. subprime mortgages during the financial crisis. By the middle of 2023, signs of distress emerged in its U.S. commercial lending book. The lender had a higher exposure to the troubled U.S. office space than its peers and took a series of large provisions against potentially bad loans in the sector. But after taking steps to reduce its exposure to such debt, CIBC’s credit performance has been strong for most of this year. With that in hand, investors have turned their focus to the bank’s revenue growth, cost controls and strong execution, sending the stock to new all-time highs. “CIBC put up the best results this earnings season, followed by Royal Bank, both of which continued to deliver solid and consistent numbers along with strong guidance for next year,” analyst Meny Grauman wrote to clients last week. Grauman has a buy rating on the stock and a one-year price target of $114, significantly higher than the consensus among analysts of $97.73. CIBC’s shares have been hovering above $94.