Jo Nova: Hertz To Sell One Third of EVs Because Customers Don’t Want Them.

What does this say really about the future of Electrical Vehicles?

From jonova.com

rollercoaster

By Jo Nova

With the western world hurtling into new cars that are more costly, inconvenient, slower to refuel, and prone to burning down carparks and cargo ships, it was only a matter of time before the cracks in the socialist car market started to show.

EV, electric car.

Around the world tonight headlines are sharing the news that Hertz is selling off 20,000 EVs, one third of their fleet, in order to buy some more fossil fuel cars. That can’t be inspiring news for customers thinking of giving up their gas guzzlers. As Oilprice said: Hertz’s Big Move Into EVs Turned Out To Be A Dud.  And as Reuters headlined: Rental giant Hertz dumps EVs, including Teslas, for gas cars.

It was the perfect storm in a bad way. Apparently the customers didn’t want to rent them, and when they did and they scratched them, they cost too much to fix. (Repair costs were twice as high).  Then the bottom fell out of the second-hand market, and to recover the depreciation losses, Hertz would have to raise the prices on a product customers already didn’t want. There was no way this was going to work.

The official dry Hertz announcement politely says that customers want fossil fueled cars and EV’s were too expensive to fix:

“..expenses related to collision and damage, primarily associated with EVs, remained high in the quarter”

“The Company expects to reinvest a portion of the proceeds from the sale of EVs into the purchase of internal combustion engine (“ICE”) vehicles to meet customer demand.”

Back in October 2021 it was all champagne and fireworks

Hertz put in an order for 100,000 EVs which was so exciting it pushed Tesla shares up 9% briefly to “a trillion dollar valuation”. (Two years later Tesla is worth 30% less.) At the time, Hertz expected to get the 100,000 cars by the end of 2022. Luckily for them, this didn’t happen. Instead they only got 50,000 by the end of 2022. This worked out to be about 11% of the Tesla total fleet. So these EV’s are not even very old. No one can say “the new models are better, because these are new models.

Some of the cars are already on the market. Two year old Telsa Model 3 EV’s are going for $22,000 US.

Hertz will book a $250 million dollar loss, and stocks in both Hertz and Tesla fell on the news.

With uncanny timing the Australian Albanese government is about to launch emissions standards we don’t need to coerce people to buy a product they don’t want, in the hope, they say, of changing the weather.

The insanity would be hard to fathom if EV’s weren’t also the ideal tool for spying, data collection, law enforcement, and political control. Benefits that can launch a thousand political careers…

The ABC At It Again

This is why changing the date of Australia Day will make no difference. The woke activists of the Aboriginal Grievance Industry will still carry on with their petty whining.

From The Daily Mail:

ABC is slammed for making New Year’s Eve 9pm show all about ‘Invasion Day’ with ‘woke’ Aboriginal rappers – as disappointed parents ask: ‘Where’s the Bluey fireworks for kids?’

By Sarah Liversidge For Daily Mail Australia and Jordan Mccarthy For Nca Newswire

The ABC has been blasted for making its family friendly 9pm coverage of the iconic New Year’s Eve celebrations about ‘Invasion Day’.

The extravaganza is typically known as the ‘fireworks for children’, with younger audiences going to bed before the midnight display.

This year, after the characters from the popular cartoon Bluey were projected onto the pillars of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the 9pm show kicked off with a racially-charged monologue followed by a rap performance of a song called ‘Our People’ by Indigenous rap group ‘3 Percent’.

The song slams Australians for voting ‘no’ to the Voice to Parliament, calls them ‘sick’ and says the country is going ‘backwards’.

Confused parents took to social media complaining the lead in to the Calling Country fireworks display was not appropriate for children.

‘Why is everything so woke…just play some pop music and show the fireworks,’ one person wrote on X. 

Read the full article here

Predicted Droughts Give Way To Floods, But It’s Not the BOM,s Fault!

From Jo Nova

The BOM predicted a hot dry summer right before the flooding rains came…

Hot Dry El Nino News.

By Jo Nova

Australians are angry the BOM didn’t see the flooding rains coming

Worse, we’re betting the nation on the BOM’s ability to predict the climate.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) tells Australians that record breaking extremes are getting worse because of our cars and our air-conditioners (that’s “The State of the Climate“). But when the BOM can’t predict record breaking rain a month in advance, or even the day before, we know the BOM doesn’t understand what drives the climate.

Somehow the BOM expect Australians to spend trillions and rearrange their economy based on their fifty year prophesies, but not to mind when “this summer” goes right off the rails.

Back in September the BOM issued its El Nino alert, and Australians were told it would be a hot and dry and to prepare for a summer of bushfires. Farmer sold their lambs, and adjusted harvest accordingly.

This was the BOM solemn prediction in late October, for the very next month of rainfall

Across most of Australia the odds were only 20-40% of getting average rain.


Instead this is what happened:

Bureau of MeteorologyAustralian rainfall percentages

BOM

And in December most of the country was predicted to have a fifty fifty chance of getting “average” rain.

 

But the real weather gods had another idea, and all the places under any shades of green below got somewhere from 100% to 300% of the average rainfall. The indigo and purple zones got even more.

Bureau of Meteorology Australian rainfall percentages

BOM

This was a savage downpour — seven feet of rain in five days fell at one location:

No fewer than 12 locations across far north Queensland posted record rainfall totals.

Some areas received a year’s rainfall in a single day, isolating towns, closing highways and leaving hundreds stranded by surging floodwaters. Black Mountain near Cooktown recorded a cumulative 2189mm over the five days, while Mossman South, an hour northwest of Cairns, had 1935mm.

–The Australian

As the Mayor of Douglas Shire said:

“If this is so record-breaking, how did no one know this was going to happen … we need to have forecasts closer to what is going on.”

–The Australian

The BOM suddenly wants to absolve itself of liability

People have noticed there is now a mandatory check box forcing users to agree to a legal disclaimer clearing the BOM of all liability:

Users of the BOM app now have to agree to a 699-word “terms and conditions” statement that includes “information at this app … may not be accurate, current or complete”.

“To the maximum extent permitted by law, the bureau excludes any liability that may arise in connection with the BOM Weather app or any information or material presented therein or your access to or use of any of the same,’’ the bureau says in a “terms and conditions” statement that appears when a user attempts to download its app. — Mackenzie Scott, The Australian

They know they are in trouble.

I say the BOM can have immunity the same day Australians can also tick a box excluding ourselves from any and all costs, imposts and taxes related to any BOM predictions.

The Australian editors gives the BOM an escape valve it doesn’t deserve:

To be fair to the BOM, a hysterical and ill-informed media has allowed climate alarmism to infect reporting of what should be routine weather events.

For thirty years the Australian media has made hyperbolic scare stories about the weather while the BOM tacitly stood by and smiled. Where were they as the tenets of science were trashed, and critics were called “climate deniers”? If the BOM are victims of this hyperbole now, they reap what they sowed.

The BOM raised the stakes, and they don’t get to weasel out by saying “we used the best science” as if the best science wasn’t riddled with holes. If the science is good enough to throw away trillions of dollars, then the worst failures need a truckload of explanation.

Predicting the weather is hard. We could forgive the BOM for getting a complex immature science wrong, but not when they also tell us it’s just simple physics, they’re absolutely sure, and there is no doubt they’re wrong (give us your money!).

The Slippery Slope of Euthanasia Laws: Brian Pickering

From The Daily Declaration

euthanasia

The Slippery Slope of Euthanasia Laws

28 DECEMBER 2023

2 MINS

ACT Set to Implement Most Permissive Euthanasia Laws in Australia

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is on the brink of implementing the most permissive euthanasia laws in the country, perpetuating a concerning culture of death.

Unlike other states, the ACT is moving forward without requiring terminally ill patients to have a predicted time of death to access euthanasia. This approach deviates from the rest of the nation, where patients are generally required to have a life expectancy of 6 to 12 months to be eligible for assisted suicide.

While the Federal Government paved the way for euthanasia in the ACT in 2022, the Territory’s continued exploration of expanding its scope is deeply troubling.

The earlier consideration of allowing teenagers as young as 14 to access euthanasia underscores a growing and distressing trend. The Government may have abandoned that specific proposal, but it remains committed to exploring even more controversial paths by considering the inclusion of terminally ill minors and individuals with dementia in the euthanasia framework.

This reflects a stark reality in which the sanctity of life and the value of compassionate palliative care are being overshadowed by an increasing focus on providing state-sanctioned suicide as an alternative. The ACT’s eagerness to push these laws forward neglects the potential negative consequences on the vulnerable, sending a disconcerting message about the worth of human life and the culture it is fostering. The sanctity of life should be protected and cherished, not undermined by a rush towards more permissive euthanasia legislation.

Tragic Euthanasia Choice for Palliative Patient When NDIS Funding Cut

The recent tragedy of James “Jim” Mills is a troubling reminder of the tragic effects of legalised assisted suicide on our society’s most vulnerable. Diagnosed with brain cancer in 2021, Jim’s reliance on repurposed NDIS funding led to a brutal choice when it was abruptly cut, pushing him to opt for euthanasia rather than stay in hospital.

Reinstated funding came too late, illustrating how the existence of euthanasia fundamentally alters incentives for government agencies, healthcare providers, and patients. This scenario also highlights the impact on palliative care, which faces a significant challenge when assisted suicide appears a simpler option.

Jim’s heartbreaking story emphasises that even stringent safeguards around euthanasia and assisted suicide are inadequate, leaving room for individuals to fall through the cracks and experience heartbreaking outcomes for themselves and their families.

Netherlands Euthanising People Just Because They Have Autism

A recent report on euthanising people with autism and intellectual disabilities in the Netherlands is deeply troubling. Cases mentioned in the report, including people with autism aged under 30, set concerning precedents that go beyond the law’s original intent.

It’s distressing that some with autism view euthanasia as a solution, reflecting society’s failure to support vulnerable individuals and hints at a form of eugenics.

We must consider the broader implications and the risk of pressuring our vulnerable into ending their lives. The media’s portrayal of euthanasia as empowerment should not overshadow the ethical, moral and scriptural questions raised by these practices. This report reminds us of the need for a critical examination of these policies.

 

Kurt Mahlburg: Texas Sues Pfizer — and the Lawsuit’s Ripples Could Reach Australia

From the Daily Declaration:

pfizer

Texas Sues Pfizer — and the Lawsuit’s Ripples Could Reach Australia

20 DECEMBER 2023

4.3 MINS

The state of Texas is suing Pfizer for an allegedly defective Covid-19 product in a lawsuit that has grabbed the attention of The Australian.

The State of Texas has launched a major lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for engaging in “false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices” in the marketing of its Covid-19 injectable.

Lodged by Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton late last month after a thorough state investigation, the 54-page suit calls Pfizer’s product “the miracle that wasn’t” and takes particular aim at the company’s “95% effective” claim.

“Placing their trust in Pfizer, hundreds of millions of Americans lined up to receive the vaccine. Contrary to Pfizer’s public statements, however, the pandemic did not end; it got worse,” the petition reads.

“More Americans died in 2021, with Pfizer’s vaccine available, than in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. This, in spite of the fact that the vast majority of Americans received a COVID-19 vaccine, with most taking Pfizer’s.”

Pfizer’s Alleged False Advertising

The lawsuit’s significance was not lost on Australia’s national broadsheet, with Adam Creighton of The Australian warning Tuesday that events in the Lone Star State “could have wide-ranging political ramifications across the developed world”.

“Pfizer appears to have exaggerated the effectiveness of its vac­cines, making unfounded claims that routinely were parroted by governments, health officials and much of the mainstream media,” Creighton wrote.

He continued:

Remember “95 per cent effective”? According to Texas, “0.85 per cent effective” would have been a more accurate sales pitch. Pfizer ran one large clinical trial in 2020 to obtain emergency authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration, which then green-lit the rollout. About 22,000 people were given a placebo and another 22,000 two shots of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine, and the results recorded two months later.

In the placebo group 162 people developed symptomatic Covid-19, but only eight in the vaccinated group, which is how the “95 per cent effective” was calculated. Yet according to the US Food and Drug Administration’s own guidelines this “relative risk reduction” measure is misleading and should at least be accompanied by the “absolute risk reduction”, which in this case was 0.85 per cent (0.9 per cent risk of contracting Covid-19 without vaccination, minus 0.04 per cent with).

Interestingly, the trial didn’t test the groups for asymptomatic Covid-19 using PCR tests, the kind we had to undergo repeatedly for the best part of two years, so who knows how many people in either group were infected. In terms of deaths from all causes across that two-month trial period, 21 people died in the vaccinated group and 17 in the placebo group — the opposite of what one might have expected.

“What’s on trial isn’t merely Pfizer but the institutions of governance in the developed world,” Creighton concluded.

“If Texas wins, it will have highlighted perhaps the greatest medical fraud in history, and the abject failure of medical regulators on a scale at least as large as banking and financial regulators in 2008.”

Covid-19 Injections and All-Cause Mortality

If the Texas lawsuit is successful, the implications in Australia could be monumental.

A recent study looking at deaths by all causes in 17 southern hemisphere countries, including Australia, uncovered a “definite causal link” between the rollout of Covid-19 injectables and peaks in all-cause mortality.

The Canadian team behind the study identified approximately 1 death for every 2,000 injections and concluded that “the Covid-19 vaccines did not save lives and appear to be lethal toxic agents”.

Data from various Australian states apparently corroborates this finding.

Most Queensland Covid-19 deaths were of people who were “fully vaccinated” when the state borders first opened in December 2021.

Likewise, Western Australians suffered exceptionally high rates of adverse events following Covid-19 injections — with a staggering 57% of them presenting at a hospital — at a time when most of the population was injected but no Covid-19 cases were recorded.

Indeed, excess deaths were already being detected in Australia in 2021 when the injection rollout was in full swing but many states still had no Covid-19 cases.

Injection Mandates and Censorship

Despite the Australian Immunisation Handbook explicitly stating that vaccines “must be given voluntarily in the absence of undue pressure, coercion or manipulation”, Australian governments imposed heavy-handed injection mandates on the nation’s citizens.

Australians were deprived of their freedom to work, travel, use public and private amenities, and be with loved ones at important moments such as births, deaths and funerals, unless they received the Covid-19 products that are now the subject of the Texas lawsuit.

Rather than listening to community pushback, the Australian Government voted down two bills aimed at shielding citizens from vaccine discrimination and launched a campaign of censorship against those who raised concerns. 

Following an FOI request by Senator Alex Antic, it was revealed that the Department of Home Affairs — whose purview includes border security and counter-terrorism but not public health — wilfully violated the free speech of thousands of Australians.

As reported at the time by The Daily Declaration, 

In total, the Australian Government flagged 4,213 Covid-themed posts for suppression.

While some posts contained irrational or unverified statements, the Commonwealth also blacklisted many legitimate claims made by Australian citizens.

Among them were posts correctly stating that Covid-19 injections did not stop infection or transmission of the virus, that masks and lockdowns were ineffective, and that Covid-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Content posted by Australian medical professionals was also censored, along with calls for peaceful protest against heavy-handed pandemic measures, and perhaps most cynically of all, testimonies of the vaccine-injured.

Australia’s Pfizer Contracts in the Spotlight

The most significant implications of the Texas lawsuit for Australia will likely be in regards to the agreements struck between the Federal Government and pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer.

When signing contracts with Covid-19 injection suppliers, the government granted companies total legal immunity if their products resulted in the maiming or killing of Australian citizens.

In the case of contracts with Pfizer, those agreements were based on the same trial data now being scrutinised in Texas.

It was on the basis of the same trial data that the Australian Government purchased vast quantities of Covid-19 injectables from various Big Pharma outfits, to the tune of almost ten doses per citizen.

To date, the Federal Government has spent at least $18 billion on Covid injectables and other treatments, approximately half of which have since been binned.

Of the first 255 million vaccine doses purchased, only 60 million were used, with more than half set to expire and be dumped, to the estimated value of $3 billion.

Approximately half of all Covid-19 injectables acquired by the Australian Government were purchased from Pfizer.

The lawsuit brought by Texas AG Ken Paxton alleges five violations of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and is seeking more than US$10 million in civil penalties against Pfizer.

It has been filed in Lubbock state district court in north-west Texas.

Anti-Semitic Incidents in Australia Surge 738% Since Last Year

From The Daily Declaration

anti-Semitic

Anti-Semitic Incidents in Australia Surge 738% Since Last Year

19 DECEMBER 2023

2.3 MINS

A shocking new report reveals a skyrocketing increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Australia following the Hamas invasion of Israel.

Death threats, graffiti, beatings and chants of “intifada” are among a record 662 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in Australia in just October and November of this year, in a shocking new report from the Executive Council of Australia Jewry.

The same period last year saw 79 such events, marking a dramatic 738% rise in anti-Semitic incidents year-on-year.

In one incident, a group of 13-year-old Jewish girls in their Jewish school uniforms were pelted with food at a mall in Bondi Junction, Sydney, before having a box thrown their way decorated in swastikas.

A Jewish cyclist sporting an Israeli flag was the victim of another attack in Melbourne, when a female attacker grabbed his flag and two men pushed the victim to the ground before kicking him in the chest and back.

In a seperate incident that took place on a train in Melbourne, an assailant shouted at a Jewish man, “If I could get a hold of a machine gun I’d gun down 10,000 of you tomorrow.” He also threatened to “blow a hole through your synagogue,” and said, “Jews aren’t people, they’re pieces of sh*t”.

The ECAJ explains in the report that their figures are provisional and are likely to rise significantly as more reports come in covering the October-November period.

‘It’s a Shame for Our Country’

Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the ECAJ, has warned that in response to the surge in anti-Semitic attacks in Australia, Jewish parents have begun telling their children to conceal their Jewish identities in public, as reported by the Daily Telegraph.

“Parents are speaking to their children about not disclosing their Jewishness in public, about hiding Jewish attire and symbols,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“The fact that in our society, in our time, these conversations are taking place, that one segment of our community feels that unsafe and that vulnerable from other Australians, it’s a shame for our country.”

In a Sky News interview, Walt Secord, Public Affairs Director or the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), said “I’ve lived in Australia now for 36 years and I have not seen anti-Semitism — the public expression of anti-Semitism — reach these levels in my entire life. It’s extraordinary.”

Mr Secord called the attacks “absolutely unAustralian”.

“We know that it’s a small group engaging in this activity but it’s absolutely unacceptable and it’s put the Jewish community on edge,” he added.

Global Surge in Anti-Semitic Incidents

A rise in anti-Semitic incidents is not just confined to Australia but has become a global phenomenon since the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7 that saw 1,200 Israelis murdered, 6,000 injured and 250 taken hostage.

The New York-based Anti-Defamation League recently reported that anti-Semitic incidents in the United States have risen by 388%, the majority of which had direct links to the Israel-Hamas war.

Meanwhile in the UK, anti-Semitic incidents have surged 514% according to data from the Community Security Trust.

The Jerusalem Post reported in late October that a joint study found a global rise in anti-Semitic attacks of 500%.

Albanese Government Calls for Ceasefire

The shocking Australian report comes as the Albanese Government effectively revokes its support for Israel by voting at the United Nations for an immediate ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

It is an about-turn that has angered Israel and delighted Palestinian advocates, given Hamas’ genocidal intent for the Jewish people and desire to see the Jewish state annihilated.

The Australian Christian Lobby has launched a petition calling on the government to respond to the rise in anti-Semitism seen around the nation.

New Analysis Reveals 1 in 3 Women Suffer Post-Abortion Depression

From The Daily Declaration:

New Analysis Reveals 1 in 3 Women Suffer Post-Abortion Depression

14 DECEMBER 2023

3.3 MINS

Post-abortion depression is a real phenomenon affecting up to 1 in 3 women who abort, according to a new meta-analysis.

Women who go through with an abortion suffer no lasting mental health problems—according to conventional wisdom, at least.

However, conventional wisdom is on notice following the publication of a bombshell meta-analysis that found 34.5 percent of women experience post-abortion depression globally.

Released in October in the UK-based scientific journal BMC Psychiatry, the meta-analysis reviewed data from 15 different papers representing over 18,000 women across 11 nations.

“[T]he occurrence of post-abortion depression has been observed to be widespread globally,” concluded the Ethiopia-based research team led by Natnael Atnafu Gebeyehu and Kirubel Dagnaw Tegegne.

The team explains that their paper is “the first global meta-analysis of literature on post-abortion depression, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge.”

A Conspiracy of Silence From the Mainstream Media

An internet search of the article’s title—“Global Prevalence of Post-Abortion Depression: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis”—reveals how few mainstream media outlets have bothered to report on the distressing finding.

When addressing this topic at all, outlets such as The New York TimesNBC News, and Time reference older studies that have a far narrower scope in order to prop up the idea that abortion carries no significant mental health risks for the women who have one.

Indeed, the American Psychological Association (APA) promotes the distorted notion that it is not abortion but the denial of an abortion that has the greater mental health impact on pregnant women.

An article on the APA website quotes Debra Mollen, Ph.D., a professor of counseling psychology at Texas Woman’s University, who claims, “It’s important for folks to know that abortion does not cause mental health problems. … What’s harmful are the stigma surrounding abortion, the lack of knowledge about it, and the lack of access.”

How Wealth Affected Post-Abortion Outcomes

However, that is not what was discovered by the team of researchers behind the recent meta-analysis which compiled data on post-abortive women from nations as diverse as Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Turkey.

“Healthcare providers should prioritise the provision of post-abortion counselling, care, and emotional support to women,” the team of six researchers warned.

“Depression is a major public health concern, with women being twice as likely as men to experience depression during their lifetime. Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide,” they added.

In their discussion, the researchers pointed to prior studies that found prevalence rates of post-abortion depression as high as 82 percent in affluent nations (though the researchers excluded North and South America due to a lack of data) and 74 percent in the developing world.

The meta-analysis demonstrated little variation in mental health outcomes from continent to continent; however, a nation’s wealth did result in different outcomes for women: Post-abortion depression rates were 43 percent in lower-middle income nations, while high income nations saw rates of 25 percent.

“This disparity may be attributed to the low social status of individuals, which can impede access to intangible resources such as security, opportunity, and education, irrespective of their objective income levels when they reside below the societal material standards,” they write.

‘Abortion Goes Against a Woman’s Very Nature’

One of the few outlets to report on the recent meta-analysis was The Washington Stand, which quoted Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council. Szoch explained:

The new meta-analysis revealing that one in three women suffer serious depression after an abortion affirms what we all innately know to be true: Abortion goes against a woman’s very nature. From the moment of her child’s conception onward, a mother’s life will always exist in relationship to her child. That child is, and always will be, a part of her. Science demonstrates this very clearly. A mother’s own DNA is altered by the child she is carrying. A mother’s unborn child literally leaves behind an imprint in her mother’s DNA changing that mother’s DNA to include a part of the child.

As highlighted by Szoch, the meta-analysis underscores the importance of better alternatives for pregnant women than abortion, along with support services for women who are suffering from post-abortion depression.

Help, Support and Hope is Available

The good news is just how many pregnancy support centers there are in the United States offering help and hope to women regardless of what they are facing.

According to The Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham, “82,000 volunteers in nearly 3,000 pro-life centers across the country annually serve roughly two million clients—more than three times the number of abortions procured.”

She adds, “In 2019, before there was any serious inkling that Roe might be overturned, pro-life centers provided $270 million worth of services and goods to at-risk women, including medical care, education, and baby items like diapers, car seats, and clothing.”

That’s not to mention the support available to women who are suffering from post-abortion depression.

As the recently released short film I’ll Speak For You affirms, “There is hope, you just have to know where to find it.”

 

Originally published at Intellectual Takeout. Image via Unsplash.

I abandoned Buddhism to follow Jesus Christ

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, describes how he abandoned Buddhism to follow Jesus Christ.

My family came to Australia in 1972. My parents were Sri Lankan. My mother’s family were Buddhist and so my two sisters and I were raised as Buddhists in Australia, which was unusual then.

I think Australia’s first Buddhist temple opened in 1975 in Stanmore. It was a Thai Buddhist temple and Thai Buddhism is very similar to Sri Lankan Buddhism, so that was where the Sri Lankan community would go.

In my third year at university, I thought I should devote myself a little to the study of my religion. So, I started privately reading Buddhist literature. I visited the temple. I developed my meditation practice. But in God’s kindness, I’d had Christian friends at high school and at university. And so, at the end of my third year at university, I was going on holiday with a few friends and we picked up some of them at the end of a beach mission.

So we arrived on the last day of the beach mission. And after we’d had lunch, the team said to me, “Oh, we’re going to pray now. Maybe you could go for a walk on the beach.” And I said, “Oh, I’ll just stay here if that’s okay.”

That was the first time I saw Christian people in prayer, and it was quite surprising. I didn’t know what they were going to do when they said that they were going to pray. They just stayed right where they were and started talking to God. So that was eye-opening.

“He allowed me to see the vitality, the beauty, the majesty of Jesus Christ.”

Then I said to one of my friends, “What’s being a Christian all about?” And he said being a Christian meant he’d “lost control of his life to Jesus Christ”. Remember, I had devoted the year to serious study of Buddhism and was trying to develop, especially through meditation, control of my emotions and my ambitions and my desires, in order to be released from them. And here was my friend, who I respected, who said he’d lost control of his life to somebody who lived 2000 years ago!

Well, he asked me, “Would you read something if I gave it to you?” I said, “Okay.” And he gave me Mark’s Gospel and John’s Gospel.

When I was back at home after our holiday, in my bedroom, I thought I ought to keep my word to my friend. So, I got John’s Gospel out and began to read it. And as I did – wonderfully – God, in his kindness, convicted me, first of all, that I wasn’t reading a fairytale but that I was reading history. And he allowed me to see the vitality, the beauty, the majesty of Jesus Christ – a person who had friends and enemies, who had compassion and a mission, who was a man of emotions, but also seemingly always in control.

The Lord drew my attention to a particular phrase that John uses. He relates a story, and then he’ll say, “At this, the people were divided.” God really drew my attention to this phrase and turned it around on me, so that I began to ask myself, “Well, you’re not on the side of Jesus. Why not?”

As I read through the gospel once again, my attention became focused on John 6:44. Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and I will raise them up on the last day.” Although this verse raises questions about God’s sovereign election, what provoked me was the idea of “the last day”. Buddhism taught me to expect that it would take hundreds of lifetimes, through many deaths and rebirths, before I could hope to achieve enlightenment. The Buddha himself took over 500 rebirths. If that was true, then the idea of a “last day” was problematic.

But then, I began to wonder what Jesus could have meant when he said, “No one can come to me unless the Father … draws them to me.” How would the Father draw someone to Jesus? How could this happen? Then I noticed the very next verse. John  6:45 says, “It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.” It occurred to me that as I had been reading the gospel, the Father had been teaching me about Jesus! If I had indeed “heard the Father” and “earned from him” then the necessary thing was to “come to Jesus”. I was being “drawn to Jesus”, and in God’s kindness, I came.

Eventually, I couldn’t think of any good reason for not being on Jesus’ side. In a way that I couldn’t have explained, I just felt somehow that Jesus was for me. And I thought, “Well, I need to be for him too.” And so, in God’s kindness, he saved me.

De-regulation of Abortion Pill Misses the Point

From The Daily Declaration:

 

2 NOVEMBER 2023

6.2 MINS

As of August 1st, chemical abortions have potentially been easier to access across Australia following the federal government’s decision to deregulate the process for prescribing the abortion pill. GPs are no longer required to complete the training and are no longer required to re-register every three years.

Additionally, nurse practitioners – subject to state laws – are now able to dispense the abortion pill and are covered by a Medicare rebate. The changes also affect pharmacists, as the new policy allows an increased number to stock the abortion pill. However, abortion proponents appear unable to understand the real reasons why many women around the country have trouble accessing terminations.

The regulatory changes surrounding the abortion pill were made in response to a Senate inquiry report released last May. The report stated that Australian women, particularly those in rural areas, need greater access to abortion services and that loosening restrictions around chemical abortion was one way to achieve that.

Unsafe

Although usually referred to as the abortion “pill”, a chemical abortion comprises a regimen of two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, which are taken over several days, usually in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. As well as being lethal for babies, there is a great deal of evidence to show that the abortion pill is dangerous for women, and many jurisdictions worldwide have chosen to maintain restrictions on its availability. Despite this, Ged Kearney, the Assistant Minister for Health, claims that the abortion pill is completely safe and that the new guidelines will bring Australia into line with the rest of the world.

In Australia, the abortion pill is sometimes known as RU-486 and is marketed under the name “MS 2-Step”. The sole supplier here is abortion-behemoth MSI, the organisation formerly known as Marie Stopes International, which changed its name after the eugenics mentality of its founder Marie Stopes became widely known. Until now, MSI has been the sole provider or trainer for health professionals wanting to dispense the abortion pill and still controls the registration process.

Data for the Senate inquiry originated from researchers at Melbourne’s Monash University SPHERE programme. According to its website, SPHERE, also known as the SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence, “seeks to improve awareness, availability and access to sexual and reproductive health services for all Australian women.”

Reluctance

SPHERE has been pushing nurse-led medical abortion for years, as well as increased provision of long-acting reversible contraception devices, or LARCs. According to data from SPHERE, only 10% of Australian GPs prescribe the abortion pill, and only 30% of pharmacists can dispense it, meaning that half of Australian women can’t obtain an abortion locally.

This data has been spun by pro-abortion spokesmen and the media to conclude that the former regulations surrounding the abortion pill were preventing doctors and chemists from providing medical abortions. Yet the truth is that most GPs and pharmacists have been making a deliberate decision not to prescribe or dispense MS 2-Step.

SPHERE’S own studies debunk the idea that it is legislation that throws up obstacles to the provision of abortion services. Its recent international meta-study of over 6000 medical professionals showed: “Fear of criminal prosecution and conservative attitudes towards abortion determined whether or not health professionals provided the service and or referrals.”

The study also found that most “primary care providers have poor knowledge of medical abortion service provision”, but somehow concluded that “changes in legislation” would give medical professionals the confidence to provide abortions and to “become exemplars of abortion advocacy in their respective countries.”

SPHERE spokesperson Professor Danielle Mazza AM believes that the need for training and registration created ‘suspicion’ about medical abortions in the eyes of GPs. Mazza suggests that doctors would think, “Maybe there’s something I don’t know about medical abortion,” and decide not to provide them. She said that “… in the past, GPs had concerns about the process — many were not sure about the registration process or why it was in place.”

Such comments are an example of the kind of sophistry often engaged in by pro-abortion ideologues: it is beyond belief that medical professionals, who are some of the most intelligent people around, are unable to acquaint themselves with a simple registration process, or that the need for training put them off prescribing a drug which is apparently in high demand.

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