I am updating here the coronavirus pandemic today’s news. The view that this is a dud disease is refuted by rising death tolls in China, with the commo authorities hiding the real number of dead:
  https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/president-xi-warns-ncov-outbreak-threatens-stability-top-who-official-disputes
  https://saraacarter.com/gordon-chang-chinese-authorities-are-falsifying-the-death-toll-from-coronavirus/?utm_source=izooto&utm_medium=push_notifications&utm_campaign=gordon&utm_content=&utm_term=

“Local Chinese authorities have just lost the ability to pick up corpses due to a breakdown in government,” said Gordon Chang, a well-known expert on China on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” “So really what we are having right now is, they are completely overwhelmed,” Chang added. “They are not able to keep accurate statistics. So what we are witnessing is essentially a breakdown in government and keeping accurate statistics is a very minor part of their priorities right now.” Chang said that while he understands the preventative measure, he believes the quarantine has “made the problem worse.” “I can understand why they want to quarantine but remember, the Wuhan mayor said about 5 million people from his city left before the quarantine was imposed,” he said. “Also right now the quarantine has aggravated a problem and that is [that] people can’t get to hospitals, so they are at home…they are dying.” “They are infecting other people in their households because they are not, in a sense, quarantined from wives, husbands, brothers, sisters,” he continued. “The quarantine has made the problem worse. It’s also created panic. That panic has had consequences on, for instance, social cohesion which is absolutely necessary if you want to beat an epidemic.”

     Here is an interesting piece from American Dissent Right intellectual Brett Stevens, who is doing some fundamental rethinking about the future of, well, everything. In particular, he sees mainstream conservatism as dead, and the need for white folk to forge a new philosophy of life, or return to an old one, distilling conservativism down to its essence:
  http://www.amerika.org/politics/furthest-right/

“To address those many details, one needs a unifying system of thought based on a simple idea. The Left has equality, which is basically “me first” anarchy with grocery stores. The Right has the notion of preserving that which works best from any age. If you had to state those as simply as possible, the Left is the pro-human position and the Right is the pro-nature position. We believe that the order of nature is superior to that of humankind; we recognize that humankind fits within nature and not vice versa; we do not trust individualism, but prefer orders on levels above the individual like logic, fact, history, nature, culture, and the divine. The difficulty with being conservative comes from the two meanings of conservative. We know what conservatism has been in abstraction, which designates the continuity of meaning it has had throughout history, but then there is conservatism as instance, or the public mainstream conservatives that we see in the Republican Party and the type of half-Trotskyist, half-Libertarian nonsense they peddle. To be Furthest Right requires that one accept conservatism as a core idea, which is that we reject the human in favor of time, logic, and fact. That means less reliance on the symbolic, social, and emotional bubble in which most people live, and more focus on what works. Conservatism consists of two planks: realism and transcendence. This takes us away from utilitarianism, or choosing our future actions by what most humans say they think is best, and all symbolic ideologies.

     Every day here are new horror stories from sad old dying England about knife crime.
  https://kfgo.com/news/articles/2020/feb/03/man-shot-dead-by-uk-police-wanted-girlfriend-to-behead-her-parents/980881/

     The solution by the authorities has been to ban knives. Also, firms are producing knives without points, which does not seem to have a point if knives are banned, and as if a point cannot be ground into such a pointy knife, or steel found, and made pointy. Get the point? No, the answer to the knife problem is to go one level up, and issue permits for ordinary folk to carry swords and other medieval weapons, including wearing chain mail! There is no doubt that guns would solve the problem, but the cucked British are not up to that. Anyway, people who had guns, being attacked are likely to be as bad a shots as police, and thus hit city shoppers. But, going medieval may appeal to them. Short swords trump the pathetic kitchen knives used by attackers, and even a half decent fighting Bowie or kukri, would make most of these attacker’s wet their pants. Knife fighting training centres could be set up in supermarkets, creating employment.

To The Australian        In her promotion of a practical referendum for Aboriginal constitutional recognition ("Referendum must be practical, not symbolic", 7/2) Shirleen Morris misrepresents the nature of conservative opposition to any such recognition. It is not that there is a fear of "legal uncertainty", but that the whole idea is seen as dangerously divisive and powered by a long-term plan for total separatism involving two discrete national states on this continent. The project is clearly against the interests of the great majority of Australians. Morris also misidentifies its conservative opponents. Those she names are all supporters of constitutional change. The real conservatives are those who oppose any separatist policies, including the enacting of treaties. We need a more scrupulous as well as a more open debate to precede any referendum; and the government must ensure that the "No" case is fairly represented and funded.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic

     It was the claim of murky Merkle that the influx of refugees, mainly men, would solve Germany’s employment problem. Sure, as if they do not age. But, regardless of that:
  https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-bamf-looks-to-southern-europe-for-skilled-labor/a-52225546

“A lack of education is making it hard for refugees from developing countries to integrate into Germany's skilled labor market. An estimated 17% of participants in German integration courses are illiterate. The head of  Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), Hans-Eckhard Sommer, said that integrating refugees into Germany's labor market will be a difficult task, and called for Germany to focus on attracting skilled labor from countries in southern Europe. In an interview with Germany's Rheinische Post newspaper published on Saturday, Sommer said that there are many jobless, well-educated young people in Southern Europe who would be "considerably easier" to integrate. On March 1, the German government will implement a skilled labor immigration law intended to make it easier for highly qualified foreigners to work in Germany. Under EU law, there are no legal barriers for EU citizens to work in other countries in the 27-member bloc. "I think we should concentrate harder on recruiting professionals from Europe," said Sommer.

To The Australian        In her promotion of a practical referendum for Aboriginal constitutional recognition ("Referendum must be practical, not symbolic", 7/2) Shirleen Morris misrepresents the nature of conservative opposition to any such recognition. It is not that there is a fear of "legal uncertainty", but that the whole idea is seen as dangerously divisive and powered by a long-term plan for total separatism involving two discrete national states on this continent. The project is clearly against the interests of the great majority of Australians. Morris also misidentifies its conservative opponents. Those she names are all supporters of constitutional change. The real conservatives are those who oppose any separatist policies, including the enacting of treaties. We need a more scrupulous as well as a more open debate to precede any referendum; and the government must ensure that the "No" case is fairly represented and funded.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave

     President Trump gave the State of the Union address, and Demo-rat Nancy Pelosi was seen tearing up his speech behind him, like a little spoilt child, having a temper tantrum:
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/06/watch-nancy-pelosi-busted-pre-ripping-trumps-sotu-speech/
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/06/nancy-pelosi-necessary-tear-up-trumps-manifesto-mistruths/
  https://www.zerohedge.com/political/turley-nancy-pelosi-should-resign

“The House has its share of infamies, great and small, real and symbolic, and has been the scene of personal infamies from brawls to canings. But the conduct of Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the State of the Union address this week will go down as a day of infamy for the chamber as an institution. It has long been a tradition for House speakers to remain stoic and neutral in listening to the address. However, Pelosi seemed to be intent on mocking President Trump from behind his back with sophomoric facial grimaces and head shaking, culminating in her ripping up a copy of his address. Her drop the mic moment will have a lasting impact on the House. While many will celebrate her trolling of the president, she tore up something far more important than a speech. Pelosi has shredded decades of tradition, decorum and civility that the nation could use now more than ever. The House speaker is more than a political partisan, particularly when carrying out functions such as the State of the Union address. A president appears in the House as a guest of both chambers of Congress. The House speaker represents not her party or herself but the entirety of the chamber. At that moment, she must transcend her own political ambitions and loyalties. Tensions for this address were high. The House impeachment managers sat as a group in front of the president as a reminder of the ongoing trial. That can be excused as a silent but pointed message from the Democrats.

     The received view is that only whites are racist because of the culture of guilt as a weapon, blah, blah, Great Replacement etc. Ok, but there is a problem. What if there is discrimination within a racial group against its own members?
  https://www.capebretonpost.com/news/local/chinese-woman-says-sydney-ns-restaurant-discriminating-against-her-406361/

“A Chinese woman says a Sydney restaurant is discriminating against their own culture. Olivia Lu, a Glace Bay resident from China attending Cape Breton University, says Chinese students are being barred from entering the Fortune Star Chinese Restaurant in Sydney. “It’s discrimination, it’s ridiculous, it’s so rude,” said Lu. Lu said a couple days ago a group of her friends went to the restaurant, sat down and were asked to leave. “They told them they don’t accept Chinese students anymore,” she said. “They said they could call and place an order and call delivery man to pick it up.” Lu said a sign was posted on the door in Chinese which translated read: “Due to the recent outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan for the safety of everyone, our store does not accept Chinese students for the time being. If necessary, you can call for deliver. Sorry for the inconvenience, please forgive me.” After students began sharing photos of the sign on social media, there was an uproar from angry students. “Then the next day they put up a new sign saying they were closing the restaurant for a month,” Lu said. Although she hears the restaurant makes really good food, Lui said she will never go there again. “The thing is, they are all Chinese, even the staff that work there are Chinese,” she said, adding that this should never happen anywhere, but the restaurant is even doing it to their own people. Although some students did go home over the holiday break, the virus didn’t start until after that and the flights are shut down anyway, she said. Many Chinese students on Facebook sites were expressing anger over the restaurant’s decision, most feeling it was discrimination. There are also some posts defending the restaurant, saying obviously the owner is taking precautions.”

     Well, the Minister said this, sterling it is: go home, and rebuild!
  https://breakthematrix.com/danish-minister-tells-somalis-go-home-and-rebuild-your-country/

“Denmark’s migration minister Inger Støjberg has told the country’s Somali migrants to return home and work on improving their own country after the Danish government ruled parts of Somalia safe. Since the Immigration Service began its review of refugee residency permits in early 2017, nearly 1,000 Somalis have had their Danish residency permit revoked, reports the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. Of those, 516 had been directly granted asylum while another 412 were family members who joined them as through chain migration, also known as “family reunion” or “family reunification”. “If you no longer need our protection and your life and health are no longer at risk in your home country, and specifically in Somalia, you must of course return home and rebuild the country from which you came from,” Ms Støjberg said. The automatic right to asylum from countries like Somalia was revoked in Denmark’s 2015 amendment to its Immigration Act. As a result, the Immigration Service announced in autumn 2016 that it would use the new legal basis to review about 1,200 residence permits given to Somalis because of changes to “general conditions” in parts of their country, whereby “there is no longer a basis for asylum, simply because they come from there”. Unlike neighbouring Germany and Sweden, Denmark has taken a tough line on asylum and integration since the Syrian conflict sparked Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015.”

     I don’t in general trust the FBI after its treatment of Trump, but they have probably got it right on the threat of China:
  https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/wray-addresses-china-threat-at-doj-conference-020620

“China is threatening the U.S. economy—and national security—with its relentless efforts to steal sensitive technology and proprietary information from U.S. companies, academic institutions, and other organizations, FBI Director Christopher Wray said today. Wray described the threat from China as “diverse” and “multi-layered.” He noted that the Chinese government exploits the openness of the American economy and society. “They’ve pioneered an expansive approach to stealing innovation through a wide range of actors,” Wray said during opening remarks at the half-day Department of Justice China Initiative Conference in Washington, D.C. Wray told the audience that China is targeting everything from agricultural techniques to medical devices in its efforts to get ahead economically. While this is sometimes done legally, such as through company acquisitions, China often takes illegal approaches, including cyber intrusions and corporate espionage. “They’ve shown that they’re willing to steal their way up the economic ladder at our expense,” he said. The FBI is using traditional law enforcement techniques as well as its intelligence capabilities to combat these threats. He said the FBI currently has about 1,000 investigations into Chinese technology theft. “They’ve shown that they’re willing to steal their way up the economic ladder at our expense.”

     Some interesting part of our heritage may have been uncovered; the coronation place of Edgar the Peaceful:
  https://www.livescience.com/lost-monastery-discovered-england-first-king-coronation.html

“Newly unearthed remains may come from the monastery where England's first king, Edgar the Peaceful, was coronated more than 1,000 years ago, according to Wessex Archaeology, an archaeological company and charity in England. The so-called smoking gun emerged during an excavation at the famous Bath Abbey, ahead of planned renovations there. During the excavation, archaeologists were surprised to find hints of Anglo-Saxon architecture in two structures next to the abbey. These are the first known Anglo-Saxon structures in all of Bath, a city that was founded by the Roman Empire and that is known for its thermal hot springs. The two apsidal (semicircular) structures, or apses, were found below street level, underneath what once made up the cloisters of the 12th-century cathedral built over Romano-British deposits. The cathedral is just south of the abbey church. After finding the Anglo-Saxon stone structures, archaeologists used a method called radiocarbon dating on charcoal found in some of the plaster of one of these apses. Since scientists know the rate of decay of radioactive carbon, they can use that to infer how long an object has been in the ground. The charcoal dated to 780-970 and 670-770, Wessex Archaeology found. This time window suggests that the abbey was once part of the Anglo-Saxon monastery where Edgar was coronated, in 973.

     While Donald Trump is being impeached for merely doing what presidents are elected to do, the Biden family, his Democrat presidential rival, scooped off millions in taxpayer’s money, and that is just the beginning according to a new book, which I will probably not bother reading, as I would prefer to invest in beans, bullets and fluffy pink bunny rabbits:
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/09/bombshell-book-to-reveal-how-biden-family-siphoned-millions-in-taxpayer-cash-hunter-biden-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/

“A forthcoming bombshell book from publishing giant HarperCollins will reveal how five members of Joe Biden’s family—the “Biden Five”—siphoned tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer cash and guaranteed loans. And the recent scandals involving Joe and Hunter Biden, Ukraine, and Burisma are just “the tip of the iceberg,” say sources close to the publisher. The upcoming book, Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite, is the latest investigative work from Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President and Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer. Publisher HarperCollins has the book under a strict embargo until its January 21 release. Sources with knowledge of its contents say the book will “upend official Washington,” similar to the way Schweizer’s past works like Clinton Cash and Secret Empires did when he broke the Uranium One and Biden-Burisma scandals. Beyond the Biden revelations, Profiles in Corruption also contains chapters with breaking news on top progressive luminaries, including: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Sherrod Brown, Eric Garcetti, and Cory Booker. In a statement to Axios’s Mike Allen, the author described the book as “a sweeping, detailed look at how the leading figures of progressivism have leveraged the power of their positions.” The book reportedly took a year and a half to research.”

     What can I say? If the elites had a photo of Donald Trump on Epstein’s paedophile island with an underage sex slave it would be prime time news. But Bill Clinton does this and nothing happens, no criminal investigation to determine whether any wrong doing occurred, nothing. Who says that there is no grand conspiracy!
  https://gellerreport.com/2020/01/breaking-bill-clinton-seen-in-new-photos-on-jeffrey-epsteins-plane-with-a-sex-slave.html/

     This one “takes the cake”!  OK he was standing in a prominent position, maybe to attract attention.  But it cannot be denied he was there to celebrate Australia Day and the cops dealt with him because a demonstration of people with a different view were coming along and his presence would cause friction.  Surely this is the last straw for Australia. View this and weep for what Australia has become, and what we have lost. Did the ANZACS die for nothing? Also, there is an issue here, as we have seen with protests in America, that the police are tending to protect the rights of the Left, but not conservatives. In the video, the police should have protected the man holding the flag, but instead, he becomes the criminal. That makes this a police state, at the mercy of the Left. As also covered at this site, British police did not pursue the rapist grooming gangs because they were ethnic, and thought that it would be politically incorrect to do so.  Disgraceful, and in the latter case, criminal as well.
  https://youtu.be/7wrkCOw-Dwc

     If you guessed, right wing rabid rabbit Nazis, well, maybe no, not today:
  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/opinion/sweden-antisemitism-jews.html

“Historically, anti-Semitism in Sweden could mainly be attributed to right-wing extremists. While this problem persists, a study from 2013 showed that 51 percent of anti-Semitic incidents in Sweden were attributed to Muslim extremists. Only 5 percent were carried out by right-wing extremists; 25 percent were perpetrated by left-wing extremists. Swedish politicians have no problem condemning anti-Semitism carried out by right-wingers. When neo-Nazis planned a march that would go past the Goteborg synagogue on Yom Kippur this September, for example, it stirred up outrage across the political spectrum. A court ruled that the demonstrators had to change their route. There is, however, tremendous hesitation to speak out against hate crimes committed by members of another minority group in a country that prides itself on welcoming minorities and immigrants. In 2015, Sweden was second only to Germany in the number of Syrian refugees it welcomed. Yet the three men arrested in the Molotov cocktail attack were newly arrived immigrants, two Syrians and a Palestinian. The fear of being accused of intolerance has paralyzed Sweden’s leaders from properly addressing deep-seated intolerance. Some of the country’s leaders have even used Israel as a convenient boogeyman to explain violence. After the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, explained radicalism among European Muslims with reference to Israel: “Here, once again, we are brought back to situations like the one in the Middle East, where not least, the Palestinians see that there isn’t a future. We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence.” In an interview in June, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was asked whether Sweden had been naïve about the link between immigration and anti-Semitism. His response was typical of the way in which leading politicians have avoided giving straight answers about the threat against the country’s Jews: “We have a problem in Sweden with anti-Semitism, and it doesn’t matter who expresses it, it’s still as darn wrong.”

     I wondered how long before we saw Aussie Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth came out and say something politically correct, and now I don’t have to wait any more.
  https://amp.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/stand-together-chris-hemsworth-speaks-out-on-australia-day/news-story/61c6e476f6ad400c9b2419da3cb5fa70
  https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/26/australia-day-protested-as-invasion-day-by-aboriginals-and-anti-patriots/

“Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth has spoken out on Australia Day, saying he thinks the national holiday should be moved. The Hollywood actor, 36, and resident of Byron Bay posted to his almost 40 million Instagram followers, sharing his view that January 26 marks a day of “such pain, sorrow and deep loss” for First Nations people. “What if we made this day about reflection and respect for the oldest surviving civilisation, how they may be feeling and come together with solidarity, love and empathy,” Hemsworth asked in the post that’s been liked more than 480,000 times. “We should stand together united in our commitment to reconciliation. Changing the date is the first step. “No one loses anything but a lot of people benefit greatly. Love you all.”

     What has been described as the “demons of political violence” seem to be gripping the world, from France to America. We all needs to pay attention to the smoke signals of the time:
  https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/french-protests-we-are-seeing-the-first-signs-of-civil-war-1.4106259

“Slowly but surely, they’re taking away all our acquis, the acquired rights that our elders fought for,” says Didier. “In 1936 we got paid holidays; later, unemployment benefits. Now they’re trying to take away our pension rights. Macron, stop taking away our acquis!” Macron wants to shift all France from a defined benefits scheme to a defined contribution scheme, called a points system. “I don’t know what a points pension means,” says Jean-Pierre. “I don’t think Macron knows either. . . I hope we paralyse the country. I don’t give a damn about Christmas, because if Macron keeps at it there’ll be no turkey, nothing to eat. I call him the vulture.” Four police officers stand nearby, shuffling their feet and rubbing gloved hands against the cold. They wear RoboCop vests and shoulder and arm protectors and speak through woollen mufflers. If they can just prevent rioting today, they hope the movement will fizzle. “Is it true that [interior minister Christophe] Castaner says we can keep our early retirement?” the officers ask. Two leading police unions called on members to strike. Castaner appealed to them to remain on duty, and promised their right to early retirement will not change. Hubert Labrousse (75), a retired researcher for the Institut Pasteur, joined Attac 15 years ago “because the Communist Party sank and the Socialist Party was no longer socialist”. Labrousse chomps a cigar and wears a top hat, three-piece suit and white scarf, a mockery of a rich man. He sees this protest as the continuation of the gilets jaunes movement that started in November 2018. “I don’t want a civil war,” he says, “But we’re seeing the first signs: the rise of the far-right, the gap between rich and poor . . .”

     I formulate this idea when reading the following speculations at vDare.com, which noted that all of the people dying from the coronavirus are Han Chinese.
  https://vdare.com/articles/do-you-know-all-coronavirus-victims-appear-to-be-chinese-thought-not?scroll_to_paragraph=5

“In fact, as far as I can tell, all of the confirmed cases have been of Chinese people. According to Sri Lankan radio, the case in Sri Lanka was a “Chinese tourist” [Sri Lanka suspends visa on arrival for Chinese travellers after confirmed case of Corona virus, News On Air, January 28, 2020]. So are the cases in France and the one in the United Arab Emirates [Coronavirus is spreading as FIVE people in France are now confirmed to have the illness and Chinese traveller from Wuhan is quarantined in Finland, by Sam Blanchard, Mail Online, January 29, 2020]. If it is true that only East Asians are dying of, or even catching, Corona, that would be consistent with long-established race differences in the susceptibility to such viruses. This has been explored in a fascinating study, by a group of Chinese researchers led by C. L. Chen of Soochow University, entitled: Ethnic differences in susceptibilities to A(H1N1) flu [African Journal of Biotechnology, 2009]. The authors begin by noting that, from an evolutionary perspective, there is every reason to expect there to be ethnic or race differences in the susceptibility to different pathogens. Races—or, as they call them, “ethnic groups”—are breeding populations, long-separated, usually by geography, who are, therefore, genetic clusters adapted to different ecologies. Because they were exposed to different pathogens in prehistory, there are very likely to be race differences in susceptibility to the pathogens and in how well the immune system can fight them.

     Good old Scomo, or is it Bozo, our prime monster, sorry, minister, is not taking any of this climate change nonsense, and has said that we in Oz are already carrying our weight on carbon emissions.
  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/29/australia-already-carrying-its-load-on-emissions-and-must-adapt-to-warmer-climate-pm-says

“The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has rejected suggestions Australia could increase its international advocacy on climate change, saying the country is already “carrying its load” and must adapt to a warmer climate regardless of emissions policy. After indicating that the government would “evolve” its climate change policies to address heightened concerns about the role of global warming in Australia’s ongoing bushfire crisis, Morrison used a keynote speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday to talk up the government’s current policies, including its emission reduction targets. “We know that Australia on its own cannot control the world’s climate as Australia accounts for just 1.3% of global emissions,” Morrison said. “We also know that no fire event can be attributed to the actions of any one country on emissions reduction. But Australia must play its part and we are playing our part. Taking action is agreed – our action, though, is a balanced and responsible emissions reduction plan. “The science tells us the effects of emissions already in the atmosphere will continue to be felt in coming decades, even under the most ambitious global emissions reduction scenarios.” When asked if the government could “step up and advocate” for more ambitious global action on climate change given its role as a “proud middle power”, Morrison said Australia was already doing enough. “Australia is carrying its load and more. We are doing what you would expect a country like Australia to do, but what I won’t do is this: I am not going to sell out Australians – I am not going to sell out Australians based on the calls from some to put higher taxes on them or push up their electricity prices or to abandon their jobs and their industries,” he said. The prime minister also said the government’s target of a cut of 26% to 28% of 2005 emission levels by 2030 was “set”, but he repeated claims that Australia was on track to “meet and beat” its target.  Department of Environment data suggests national emissions will be 16% below 2005 levels by 2030, well short of the minimum 26% goal. The government is using carryover credits from the Kyoto protocol to make up the difference.”

     One only needs to take a stroll through the Australian universities during term time to see the migration link. One could be in China or India. But here is research that goes far beyond such crude empiricism from 2019, Bob Birrell, Overseas Students are Driving Australia’s Net Overseas Migration Tide.
  https://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Overseas-students-are-driving-NOM-final-18-April-2019.pdf

“There is widespread awareness that overseas students are a large and growing presence in Australia. But few observers would know that by 2017-18 overseas students were the largest contributor to Australia’s very high level of Net Overseas Migration (NOM). According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates, overseas students comprised 104,987 of the overall level of NOM of 236,733 in 2017- 18. That’s 44 per cent of total NOM. Overseas students holding higher education visas were the dominant source of this contribution to NOM. (See definition of NOM on pp. 1-2.) Nor would many observers be aware that, over the six years from 2011-12 to 2017-18, overseas students were by far the largest growth point in Australia’s NOM. Their contribution increased from 25,700 in 2011-12 to 104,987 in 2017-18 . In the absence of the increasing contribution of overseas students, Australia’s NOM would have declined to around 150,000. Reductions in NOM over these years from New Zealanders and those on temporary work visas (among others – see Table 2) were swamped by the rising tide of overseas students. The student share of NOM in 2017-18 of 104,987 was far greater than that attributable to movements of those holding permanent residence visas – which was 68,850 in 2017-18 (see Table 1). Yet almost all the recent debate about the size of NOM and the Coalition government’s proposals to deal with the scale of NOM has focussed on the permanent resident component.