Melissa Coade

▶️ Hear the PM and Bill Shorten's response to a question from @TheMandarinAU about whether stripping public servants of their meritorious honours is on the cards for the sanctions that will come post #robodebt royal commissions. Live from parliament house. #auspol

When the question is more important than the answer! @coadem

@MadgwickKath I'm so sorry you were caught in that cross-fire. Totally unnecessary and undeserved. *Hugs*

@Coadem Yep, I am blocked too. It hurt my heart because I thought we were fighting the same fight.

I am proud of my balanced coverage of this govt scandal & I credit Asher for her work leading the fight for victims. I think there should be space for dispassionate conversation about disagreements in any public discourse. Apparently that doesn't happen on X anymore.

@Asher_Wolf blocked me for (Who knows what exactly - Disagreeing with them? Defending my choice of words? Trying to understand the nature of their complaint?) over my robodebt reporting.

@Asher_Wolf Asher -- No fear, no favour. I'm polite and balanced fourth estate. I will keep asking questions of people in power. But my role is not activist crusader. Always happy to hear from you offline if you'd like to continue discussing more.

@Asher_Wolf Here's my email. Happy to discuss more if you like: mcoade@themandarin.com.au

@Asher_Wolf Would you prefer there was no royal commission? No contemporary discourse about how to right the ship? If we cannot hope for more or better, what's the point?

@Asher_Wolf Worth acknowledging those who did something (anything). While the bar is this low it is better than nothing. The robodebt story has degrees of rot. IMO a lot of inertia and moral grey helped perpetuate & cover it up. You don't have to agree w/ that - denying it is a disservice.

@Asher_Wolf I continue to put Qs about robodebt to senior members of the federal government and kept this issue at the front of their minds/public discourse. It's a tiny part in such a bigger whole that many of you kicked off of but I am not some sloppy reporter disinterested in accuracy.

@Asher_Wolf Thanks for reading some of my work but I think it's best to consider the output of an online daily journalist in totality. The sum of my coverage is very fair and doesn't pull any punches:

@Asher_Wolf themandarin.com.au/255245-can-the…

@Asher_Wolf themandarin.com.au/254769-former-…

@Asher_Wolf themandarin.com.au/254927-not-my-…

@Asher_Wolf themandarin.com.au/255305-gordon-…

@Asher_Wolf themandarin.com.au/255625-pressur…

@Asher_Wolf Hi there Asher - sorry for late reply, I am not so good with this new 'X' platform - take your point but in this case I think I was referring to early agitator in political terms. Is there another MP who we should be lauding for sending this problem up the political flagpole?

Great coverage of John Brumby book launch from @Coadem in @TheMandarinAU. Ideas to take the heat out of Parliament, encourage collaboration. themandarin.com.au/256733-public-…

Thanks @Coadem @TheMandarinAU for writing about the launch of ‘A Better Australia’ @MUPublishing @SDHamiltonVIC @UniMelb #MUP #ABetterAustralia themandarin.com.au/256733-public-…

Journalist and author Rick Morton’s fourth book, ‘Mean streak’, has been released. But publishing his story about the robodebt saga – a masterclass in institutional harm against the public – hasn't shed the weight of the truth. #Echobox=1729798318" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">themandarin.com.au/279568-robodeb…