Received

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 80

A rare Victoria Cross awarded to an Australian digger in WWII is expected to fetch more than $1.6 million when it goes under the hammer.

The highly-prized medal for conspicuous bravery was awarded to Queensland soldier John Alexander "Jack" French, one of just 20 VCs won by Australians in the Second Word War.

Corporal French was a 28 -year-old volunteer from Crows Nest, near Toowoomba, whose 2/9th Battalion initially fought the Germans during the notorious siege of Tobruk in North Africa in 1941.

He was eventually recalled to defend Australia from invading Japanese forces and awarded the VC posthumously for his gallantry in the Battle of Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea during the first land campaign defeat of the Japanese army in the war.

The citation reads that on September 4, 1942 his company attacked a Japanese position "where it encountered terrific rifle and machine-gun fire".

The Australians were held up from three enemy machine-gun posts when Cpl French advanced and "silenced" one with grenades.

"He returned to his section for more grenades and again advanced and silenced the second post. Armed with a Thompson sub-machine gun, he then attacked the third post, firing from the hip as he went forward."

Despite being badly wounded he carried on.

When his section advanced they found the three enemy gun crews had been killed and Cpl French had died in front of the third gun pit.

"By his cool courage and disregard of his own personal safety, this non-commissioned officer saved members of his section from heavy casualties and was responsible for the successful conclusion of the attack."

The VC and Cpl French's group of six other medals will be auctioned by Noble Numismatics during the week of July 24-28 at the State Library of NSW in Sydney.

© AAP 2023

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 76

The search for a rental property has got a touch less competitive in most Australian cities and regions as vacancy rates finally start ticking up.

Vacancies edged slightly higher again in June, reaching 1.45 per cent, with renters finding it easier to secure a new home in every capital city bar Brisbane.

Despite the uptick in available rentals as measured by property firm PropTrack, vacancy rates remain at around half their pre-pandemic levels.

PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan said demand was slowing but from elevated heights.

"It remains difficult to find a rental across the country and we expect rents to continue to grow quickly, placing additional financial pressure on renters," Mr Ryan said.

Sydney, which has experienced some of the fastest price growth, has recorded a 0.28 percentage point lift over the past three months.

Vacancy rates in Hobart jumped 0.51 percentage points over the June quarter.

Brisbane was the only capital city market to tighten further, but Perth and Adelaide still have the lowest vacancy rates of the urban centres.

The combined regional rate ticked up slightly despite several state regional markets tightening over the month.

A separate Suburbtrends report found rental pain was most acute in Queensland, South Australia and NSW.

The index, which factored in metrics such as vacancy rates, rental increases and average rent as a percentage of income, found Queensland was the toughest state for renters.

Renters in the sunshine state have endured the largest average 12-month rental increase - a 16.33 per cent jump - according to the analysis.

© AAP 2023

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 75

Top officials from social media giants in Australia are set to be grilled on what action they're taking to stop foreign interference in elections.

Senior staff from organisations including Facebook's parent company Meta, TikTok, Google and Twitter will appear on Tuesday before a parliamentary committee on foreign interference through social media.

The companies will face questions on what steps are being taken to prevent other countries from meddling in federal elections and other government matters.

The committee's chair, Liberal senator James Paterson, said concerns social media companies were being weaponised by foreign powers were not theoretical.

"Russia and China have notoriously attempted to meddle in US and Canadian elections, with US and Canadian intelligence agencies assessing that these governments were behind online influence activities designed to undermine electoral processes," he said.

"Confronting this problem is no easy task. It will require a concerted effort from governments and social media platforms on which this conduct takes place."

Greens senator David Shoebridge said concerns about social media needed to be taken seriously.

"Meta, Google, TikTok and Twitter dominate our social media platforms and they must be honest about what they are, or are not, doing to tackle the spread of harmful and misleading content," he told AAP.

"Given the widespread staffing cuts across these platforms, it's hard to see how they will effectively mitigate foreign interference and intentional misinformation."

The committee had tried to get Chinese social media platform WeChat to appear before a hearing, but requests have been denied by the company.

"The committee had important questions for WeChat to answer, which we believe can only be canvassed in a public hearing," Senator Paterson said.

"(WeChat's) refusal to appear before the committee sends a clear message about the company and its willingness to comply with Australian law."

This week's public hearings will be the last held by the committee before it reports to parliament with recommendations "to ensure the integrity and transparency of social media platforms operating in Australia, and to protect the freedoms of Australians online," Senator Paterson said.

"Any recommendations with regard to WeChat should be viewed in this light," he said.

The committee will hear from federal agencies on Wednesday on steps they are taking to combat foreign interference.

© AAP 2023

Details
Category: Received
Hits: 84

Officials for Facebook's parent company have sought to reassure its new social media platform Threads will be monitored for misinformation in the same way as its other sites.

Meta executives appeared before a parliamentary committee examining foreign interference through social media on Tuesday, which is examining how Australian elections and government agencies can be safeguarded from online threats.

The appearance came less than a week after Meta launched Threads, which has been seen as a direct rival to Twitter.

Since then, more than 100 million users have signed up.

Meta's Australian head of public policy Josh Machin said the approach to Threads to combat misinformation or enforce community standards would be similar to that on its other platforms.

"All of the policies that currently apply on Facebook and Instagram apply on Threads," he told the hearing.

"Anything that would be removed or would violate our community standards on Facebook and Instagram from day one is being removed on Threads as well."

Mr Machin said while the platform was still new, work was under way to eventually have fact-checking labels on posts and labels identifying accounts as being affiliated with state-owned media.

"It's our aspiration to build that out fairly quickly. It's only a couple of days and we're delighted with the very positive reception the product has had after its release," he said.

"We're still building out broader functionality and partnerships in order to help users of the integrity of information that could be on Threads."

The Meta official said state-affiliated media violating policies on platforms would have posts removed.

It comes as the committee's chair, Liberal senator James Paterson, accused Chinese social media platform WeChat, along with its parent company TenCent, as being in contempt in parliament.

Despite multiple attempts for officials from WeChat to appear before the committee, the social media company has declined to appear.

Senator Paterson said the committee did not have the powers to force the company to appear due to it not being based in Australia.

"Compelling evidence has been put to the committee by expert witnesses that WeChat engages in surveillance, censorship and foreign interference on its platform, and yet, senators will not have the opportunity to test these propositions with the company or potential regulatory solutions to it," he said.

"It demonstrates contempt for the parliament of Australia by WeChat and their parent company TenCent."

It's estimated WeChat has more than one million Australian users.

"The committee will soon report back to parliament with recommendations to ensure the integrity and transparency of all social media platforms operating in Australia and to protect the freedoms of Australians online," Senator Paterson said.

"If WeChat believes these recommendations are unfavourable to their interests, they will have no one to blame but themselves."

Officials from other social media platforms, including TikTok, Twitter and Google, will appear before the committee later on Tuesday.

The final hearing will be held on Wednesday, focusing on the steps federal agencies are taking to combat foreign interference.

© AAP 2023