by Will Jones, Daily Sceptic:

The “incredibly high” excess death rate in 2022 should be urgently investigated by the Government, Australia’s top actuarial body has said.

According to new analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data by the Actuaries Institute, there were 15,400 excess deaths during the first eight months of the year, with around one third having no link to Covid.

This is 13% higher than expected, which is an “incredibly high number for mortality” according to Karen Cutter, spokeswoman for the institute’s COVID-19 Mortality Working Group. It is “not clear” what is driving the increase, she said. “Mortality doesn’t normally vary by more than 1-2%, so 13% is way higher than normal level.”