Mixed Victory Over Domestic Violence Leave. Also: Australia Rejects Ransom Demands<br />During a Senate committee inquiry in 2010, the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs<br />and Trade outlined its reasoning: "The Australian government does not pay ransoms," it said.<br />"The no-ransom policy is standard across all our major international consular partners and many other countries as well, on the basis<br />that paying ransom would encourage other kidnappings." While Donald Trump was campaigning for president — and proposing his "travel ban" — he had an eye on the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation: Indonesia.<br />Last weekend, Dr. Kenneth Elliott, an Australian surgeon who was kidnapped, appeared in a video released<br />by Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, a terrorist group in Mali that is affiliated with Al Qaeda.<br />Some large corporations already offer paid domestic violence leave, like PwC Australia, which confirmed<br />that it had testified to the commission in support of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.<br />Last night, "Four Corners," a news program of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, looked into Mr. Trump’s business dealings in the country, which includes the development of a large Bali resort<br />that will overlook the temple of Tanah Lot, one of the island’s most sacred sites.<br />Several countries closely allied with Australia — including the United States<br />and Britain — refuse to pay a ransom, which some experts say has led terrorist groups to avoid kidnapping citizens from those nations.
