Beth Spencer 📚 🎶✍️ 🌏

Kind of blown away by this article by Helen Elliot in the March issue of @TheMonthly - themonthly.com.au/issue/2023/mar… #TheAgeofFibs

The penny will drop soon. There will be mass panic and the media will be fighting to say they weren’t warned how bad it was. They were. Like here:

Wow! I forgot how many trolls there are on X. After tweeting about how many current politicians have qualifications relevant to their portfolios (in response to Pauline Hansons appalling political record)-what followed was a barrage of arguments that relevant expertise is somehow bad for the country —classic Trumpism and Hansonism. Revealing. And terrifying. Trump literally said he loves the uneducated — at a rally — and got cheered for it. That’s the playbook: manufacture resentment toward expertise so that incompetence becomes a virtue and accountability becomes elitism. The really dangerous part isn’t Hanson or Trump themselves — it’s that their supporters have been successfully convinced that being against knowledge and evidence is somehow authentic and brave. That questioning a politician’s relevant expertise is snobbery rather than basic accountability. You’d never apply the anti-expertise logic anywhere else. Nobody says “I don’t want a qualified surgeon, I want someone who just gets it.” Nobody says “I don’t care if my engineer has credentials, I care about his character.” As if Hanson’s character is to be admired. But somehow when it comes to the people managing the economy, health policy, and Indigenous affairs — suddenly expertise is suspicious. It’s not anti-elitism. It’s anti-accountability — and Hanson has made a 30-year career out of it without fixing a single thing she complains about.

TV reporter tells David Bowie the internet is "hugely exaggerated" David Bowie's response is the closest thing to perfection about the future.

This is huge - it's the thin, visible tip of a very large hostile takeover of Australia's universities, largely unseen

Labor, the Coalition and One Nation all just voted against an amendment I put up to call on the Government to get a fair deal on the sale and export of Australian gas by instituting a 25 per cent tax on LNG export revenue, which is estimated to generate $17 billion a year. They're running a protection racket for the gas industry rather than standing up for Aussies. *Senators Lambie, Payman and Thorpe were unable to attend the vote for personal reasons.

Every week the federal government delays a 25% gas export tax costs the Australian public around $350 million in revenue. That's $350 million a week that could have gone to funding essential services! @DavidPocock #auspol

Without a 25% tax on gas exports, Australians are missing out on billions of dollars in revenue. That's billions of dollars Australians aren't getting for gas that belongs to them, that could be going to essential services. @Nicolette_Boele #auspol

I just woke up and read all of the internet. Really good stuff. Everyone’s doing great. I feel hopeful about things.

1/3 I'm super excited to say that the Writing Disability Special Issue of JASAL (Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature) that I co-edited with Jessica White is out and freely available at: openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/JASAL

@SchoonerLita @strangerous10 @Mercfan3Mercfan Correct Jillian Segal's position has nothing to do with combating genuine racism/antisemitism as evidenced by her total silence on the many neo-Nazi displays this year She is there to silence critics of Israel Jillian Segal is an agent of Israel, acting on behalf of Israel

A rich & wonderful memorial page to @moya_costello - where you can also read or listen to the tributes & readings from other writers, & her partner Jeff Williams. Or watch the full video of the memorial service that was in Tasmania a few weeks ago. trojanmedia.org

100's of jobs cut at CSIRO when it has never been more important for govts to invest in science & research. Why can Labor find $$ for AUKUS but not our nation’s premier science, industry & research org? The Greens implore the Albanese government to commit funding & prevent cuts.

Birthday week.. over at s--u--b--st--a--ck:

Over 2 years into the #NACC's operation and Australia has fallen out of the top 10 countries with the best reputation. We're going backwards, not forwards. The NACC is a facade designed by the Albanese govt to placate people that something is being done. Nothing is being done.

For the record - NSW Police investigated 14 alleged incidents of anti-semitic attacks and found NO evidence of Iran or any other foreign agent acting in relation to 14 alleged antisemitic incidences The Minns and Albanese govts both exploited this falsehood .

David McBride has been refused leave to appeal. We’re disappointed, but not surprised. His prosecution has been political from the start — punishment for telling the truth, not breaking the law. Our system is broken. When politics corrupts justice, there is no justice. With every legal avenue now closed, we call on Attorney-General Michelle Rowland to grant David a pardon. Supported by @theinforights we ask all Australians who believe in truth and fairness to stand with us — sign the open letter ⬇️ 🔗 informationrights.org/take-action/fr… Politicians don’t listen until people make them. People power works. Let’s make them hear us. Please share this post as far and wide as you can. #FreeDavidMcBride #WhistleblowerProtection #TruthTeller #Justice #Courage #InformationRightsProject

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY! WATCH: Dr Tracy Westerman AM, Founder & Chair of Jilya, introduce the inaugural Jilya Indigenous Psychology Conference — a powerful gathering of voices, stories, and solutions led by Indigenous psychologists supported by the Dr Tracy Westerman Indigenous Psychology Scholarship Program 🖤💛❤️ ⁣ 📅 5 December 2025 📍 Perth, WA This landmark event will showcase game-changing presentations. This is more than a conference — it’s a movement. events.humanitix.com/the-jilya-indi… Only 200 seats left -many sold at pre sale! Don’t miss out! #JilyaConference2025 #IndigenousPsychology #DrTracyWesterman #AboriginalExcellence #MentalHealthMatters

Robodebt was illegal and people died. The Royal Commission laid it all out. Still no one has been charged or held accountable. It’s a stain on our country.

Anyone seen the pro-Israel sycophant Jillian Segal lately, the one we pay $1 million a year for? I believe the last time she popped her rabbit-in-the-headlights face up, she spoke endlessly about how we can stop all this hate Start with Israel, Jill Israel is a terrorist state

Today we remember 11 September 1973, where Chile’s democratically elected Allende govt. was overthrown in a military coup backed by Washington and facilitated by Australia’s intelligence services. The result was Pinochet’s dictatorship that killed and tortured thousands. 🧵👇