Dr Kevin Bonham has updated his federal polling averages.
Two party preferred: ALP vs LNP
ALP 52.3 LNP 47.7
Two party preferred: ALP vs ONP
ALP 51.6 ONP 48.4
oh hey we’re old enough to remember when it was their own fault that millennials eating crushed alligator pear would never afford a home
but yo today it’s all let’s feel sorry for poor boomers who already have investment properties but have to buy coffee pods slash capsules to brew at home
SCIENCE said:
oh hey we’re old enough to remember when it was their own fault that millennials eating crushed alligator pear would never afford a home
but yo today it’s all let’s feel sorry for poor boomers who already have investment properties but have to buy coffee pods slash capsules to brew at home
Ah well.
From today, COVID vaccines are $170 instead of free
That’s a bit of a pain in the rear.
Spiny Norman said:
From today, COVID vaccines are $170 instead of free
That’s a bit of a pain in the rear.
We just have to have a sufficient number of voters die as to make it politically advisable to restore the free jabs.
Until that figure (whatever it may be, determined by whoever) is reached, this is how things will be.
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:
From today, COVID vaccines are $170 instead of free
That’s a bit of a pain in the rear.
We just have to have a sufficient number of voters die as to make it politically advisable to restore the free jabs.
Until that figure (whatever it may be, determined by whoever) is reached, this is how things will be.
well they should have stopped consuming all that silly crushed alligator pear and homebrew coffee then shouldn’t they
Spiny Norman said:
From today, COVID vaccines are $170 instead of free
That’s a bit of a pain in the rear.
What is this? Why is the National Immunisation Program (NIP) button marked as “UNAVAILABLE”? I just go to my local chemist to get vaccinated – no need to book in. I got my most recent COVID-19 vaccination yesterday. And yes, I did know that COVID-19 vaccines stopped being free for most people today.
Australian involvement in providing parts for Israel.
system working as intended
Howard-era minister De-Anne Kelly has been revealed as a co-founder and former part-owner of LuckyBet, an online casino registered in the Caribbean. LuckyBet was formally warned by the communications regulator for allegedly contravening an Australian gambling law in September last year, after Ms Kelly had ceased to hold a stake in the company.
Decades earlier, Ms Kelly had voted to pass the Interactive Gambling Act (IGA). The IGA banned certain forms of online gambling offered to Australian customers, including digital slots and the placing of bets after sports matches have started. Ms Kelly argued in support of the bill, saying it was needed because gambling websites were “exploiting the vulnerable and susceptible in our society”.
SCIENCE said:
system working as intended
Howard-era minister De-Anne Kelly has been revealed as a co-founder and former part-owner of LuckyBet, an online casino registered in the Caribbean. LuckyBet was formally warned by the communications regulator for allegedly contravening an Australian gambling law in September last year, after Ms Kelly had ceased to hold a stake in the company.
Decades earlier, Ms Kelly had voted to pass the Interactive Gambling Act (IGA). The IGA banned certain forms of online gambling offered to Australian customers, including digital slots and the placing of bets after sports matches have started. Ms Kelly argued in support of the bill, saying it was needed because gambling websites were “exploiting the vulnerable and susceptible in our society”.
It is so immoral.
Tasmanian Coffee Shop Owner Disgusted To Serve Lee Hanson. She Responds
https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenAussie/comments/1wyumu9/tasmanian_coffee_shop_owner_disgusted_to_serve/
One Nation to establish headquarters in multimillion-dollar Brisbane office bought by Gina Rinehart
Barnaby Joyce defends move, saying party will lease space from mining billionaire’s company at commercial rates
Barnaby Joyce has defended One Nation’s plan to move its headquarters to a multimillion-dollar Brisbane office building bought by the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
The One Nation MP said the party’s national head office would pay the market rate to Rinehart’s company to rent the space, claiming there would be no mate’s rates.
“I don’t live in her pocket,” Joyce told News24. “It’s her building, it’s her lease. We’re leasing it off her at commercial rates.
“If … we’ve got an individual who’s got money, they should be allowed to spend it as they see fit.”
A composite of Pauline Hanson and Gina Rinehart showing their headshots torn into strips and overlaying one another
Has Gina Rinehart ‘bought’ One Nation? Pauline Hanson has the billionaire’s backing – and she’s super happy
Read more
Rinehart’s property investment company Hanrine finalised the purchase of the three-storey office in the Brisbane suburb of Spring Hill last week, Queensland property titles confirm, and as first reported by The Australian newspaper on Monday. The party’s headquarters will relocate there from its Brisbane airport office once a re-fit is complete.
Joyce said One Nation would pay for the office space out of the party’s “wallet”. Under parliamentary business resources rules, the commonwealth only pays for office space for elected officials – not political parties.
“We can put on the taxpayers’ ticket but we don’t,” Joyce said. “We always make sure we pay for things ourselves as best we can in One Nation.
“I think per-person you’ll find us doing a lot more off our own bat and reaching into our own wallet, of the party, rather than putting it on the on the taxpayers’ ticket.”
The office is believed to be valued at about $8m, according to The Australian. Property data shows it was last sold for $2.4m in 2003.
A spokesperson for Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting said: “Hancock Prospecting holds a range of commercial property, and this building is one of them. Hancock is not providing free or discounted space to any outside tenant, political or otherwise.”
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation to establish headquarters in multimillion-dollar Brisbane office bought by Gina Rinehart
Barnaby Joyce defends move, saying party will lease space from mining billionaire’s company at commercial ratesBarnaby Joyce has defended One Nation’s plan to move its headquarters to a multimillion-dollar Brisbane office building bought by the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
The One Nation MP said the party’s national head office would pay the market rate to Rinehart’s company to rent the space, claiming there would be no mate’s rates.
“I don’t live in her pocket,” Joyce told News24. “It’s her building, it’s her lease. We’re leasing it off her at commercial rates.
“If … we’ve got an individual who’s got money, they should be allowed to spend it as they see fit.”
A composite of Pauline Hanson and Gina Rinehart showing their headshots torn into strips and overlaying one another
Has Gina Rinehart ‘bought’ One Nation? Pauline Hanson has the billionaire’s backing – and she’s super happy
Read more
Rinehart’s property investment company Hanrine finalised the purchase of the three-storey office in the Brisbane suburb of Spring Hill last week, Queensland property titles confirm, and as first reported by The Australian newspaper on Monday. The party’s headquarters will relocate there from its Brisbane airport office once a re-fit is complete.Joyce said One Nation would pay for the office space out of the party’s “wallet”. Under parliamentary business resources rules, the commonwealth only pays for office space for elected officials – not political parties.
“We can put on the taxpayers’ ticket but we don’t,” Joyce said. “We always make sure we pay for things ourselves as best we can in One Nation.
“I think per-person you’ll find us doing a lot more off our own bat and reaching into our own wallet, of the party, rather than putting it on the on the taxpayers’ ticket.”
The office is believed to be valued at about $8m, according to The Australian. Property data shows it was last sold for $2.4m in 2003.
A spokesperson for Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting said: “Hancock Prospecting holds a range of commercial property, and this building is one of them. Hancock is not providing free or discounted space to any outside tenant, political or otherwise.”
The Teals are bankrolled by one of the chaps, one of the chaps with a hyphenated name.
Peak Warming Man said:
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation to establish headquarters in multimillion-dollar Brisbane office bought by Gina Rinehart
Barnaby Joyce defends move, saying party will lease space from mining billionaire’s company at commercial ratesBarnaby Joyce has defended One Nation’s plan to move its headquarters to a multimillion-dollar Brisbane office building bought by the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
The One Nation MP said the party’s national head office would pay the market rate to Rinehart’s company to rent the space, claiming there would be no mate’s rates.
“I don’t live in her pocket,” Joyce told News24. “It’s her building, it’s her lease. We’re leasing it off her at commercial rates.
“If … we’ve got an individual who’s got money, they should be allowed to spend it as they see fit.”
A composite of Pauline Hanson and Gina Rinehart showing their headshots torn into strips and overlaying one another
Has Gina Rinehart ‘bought’ One Nation? Pauline Hanson has the billionaire’s backing – and she’s super happy
Read more
Rinehart’s property investment company Hanrine finalised the purchase of the three-storey office in the Brisbane suburb of Spring Hill last week, Queensland property titles confirm, and as first reported by The Australian newspaper on Monday. The party’s headquarters will relocate there from its Brisbane airport office once a re-fit is complete.Joyce said One Nation would pay for the office space out of the party’s “wallet”. Under parliamentary business resources rules, the commonwealth only pays for office space for elected officials – not political parties.
“We can put on the taxpayers’ ticket but we don’t,” Joyce said. “We always make sure we pay for things ourselves as best we can in One Nation.
“I think per-person you’ll find us doing a lot more off our own bat and reaching into our own wallet, of the party, rather than putting it on the on the taxpayers’ ticket.”
The office is believed to be valued at about $8m, according to The Australian. Property data shows it was last sold for $2.4m in 2003.
A spokesperson for Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting said: “Hancock Prospecting holds a range of commercial property, and this building is one of them. Hancock is not providing free or discounted space to any outside tenant, political or otherwise.”
The Teals are bankrolled by one of the chaps, one of the chaps with a hyphenated name.
Yep, that’s one of the things that labels them as Teals.
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation to establish headquarters in multimillion-dollar Brisbane office bought by Gina Rinehart
Barnaby Joyce defends move, saying party will lease space from mining billionaire’s company at commercial ratesBarnaby Joyce has defended One Nation’s plan to move its headquarters to a multimillion-dollar Brisbane office building bought by the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
The One Nation MP said the party’s national head office would pay the market rate to Rinehart’s company to rent the space, claiming there would be no mate’s rates.
“I don’t live in her pocket,” Joyce told News24. “It’s her building, it’s her lease. We’re leasing it off her at commercial rates.
“If … we’ve got an individual who’s got money, they should be allowed to spend it as they see fit.”
A composite of Pauline Hanson and Gina Rinehart showing their headshots torn into strips and overlaying one another
Has Gina Rinehart ‘bought’ One Nation? Pauline Hanson has the billionaire’s backing – and she’s super happy
Read more
Rinehart’s property investment company Hanrine finalised the purchase of the three-storey office in the Brisbane suburb of Spring Hill last week, Queensland property titles confirm, and as first reported by The Australian newspaper on Monday. The party’s headquarters will relocate there from its Brisbane airport office once a re-fit is complete.Joyce said One Nation would pay for the office space out of the party’s “wallet”. Under parliamentary business resources rules, the commonwealth only pays for office space for elected officials – not political parties.
“We can put on the taxpayers’ ticket but we don’t,” Joyce said. “We always make sure we pay for things ourselves as best we can in One Nation.
“I think per-person you’ll find us doing a lot more off our own bat and reaching into our own wallet, of the party, rather than putting it on the on the taxpayers’ ticket.”
The office is believed to be valued at about $8m, according to The Australian. Property data shows it was last sold for $2.4m in 2003.
A spokesperson for Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting said: “Hancock Prospecting holds a range of commercial property, and this building is one of them. Hancock is not providing free or discounted space to any outside tenant, political or otherwise.”
roughbarked said:
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation to establish headquarters in multimillion-dollar Brisbane office bought by Gina Rinehart
Barnaby Joyce defends move, saying party will lease space from mining billionaire’s company at commercial ratesBarnaby Joyce has defended One Nation’s plan to move its headquarters to a multimillion-dollar Brisbane office building bought by the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
The One Nation MP said the party’s national head office would pay the market rate to Rinehart’s company to rent the space, claiming there would be no mate’s rates.
“I don’t live in her pocket,” Joyce told News24. “It’s her building, it’s her lease. We’re leasing it off her at commercial rates.
“If … we’ve got an individual who’s got money, they should be allowed to spend it as they see fit.”
A composite of Pauline Hanson and Gina Rinehart showing their headshots torn into strips and overlaying one another
Has Gina Rinehart ‘bought’ One Nation? Pauline Hanson has the billionaire’s backing – and she’s super happy
Read more
Rinehart’s property investment company Hanrine finalised the purchase of the three-storey office in the Brisbane suburb of Spring Hill last week, Queensland property titles confirm, and as first reported by The Australian newspaper on Monday. The party’s headquarters will relocate there from its Brisbane airport office once a re-fit is complete.Joyce said One Nation would pay for the office space out of the party’s “wallet”. Under parliamentary business resources rules, the commonwealth only pays for office space for elected officials – not political parties.
“We can put on the taxpayers’ ticket but we don’t,” Joyce said. “We always make sure we pay for things ourselves as best we can in One Nation.
“I think per-person you’ll find us doing a lot more off our own bat and reaching into our own wallet, of the party, rather than putting it on the on the taxpayers’ ticket.”
The office is believed to be valued at about $8m, according to The Australian. Property data shows it was last sold for $2.4m in 2003.
A spokesperson for Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting said: “Hancock Prospecting holds a range of commercial property, and this building is one of them. Hancock is not providing free or discounted space to any outside tenant, political or otherwise.”
Did Barnaby put forward documentation to prove his statement?
why wouldn’t you expect billionaires and their representatives to spend more of “their own” money than commoners who depend on welfare
On the odd occasion that I get to peruse farcebook, almost every second post is some garbage from one neuron paid for by Gina.
Now I realise why the people that I work with are sucked in by the misinformation and ragebait.
And now I am concerned that this garbage is influencing our next election.
It worked for the other orange moron, and is likely to work for our orange moron.
I’ll be working in the background to talk to these potential donkey voters one at a time to ask simple questions about policies and government. I hope that I can influence a few voters away from her idiotic policies.
Kingy said:
On the odd occasion that I get to peruse farcebook, almost every second post is some garbage from one neuron paid for by Gina.Now I realise why the people that I work with are sucked in by the misinformation and ragebait.
And now I am concerned that this garbage is influencing our next election.
It worked for the other orange moron, and is likely to work for our orange moron.
I’ll be working in the background to talk to these potential donkey voters one at a time to ask simple questions about policies and government. I hope that I can influence a few voters away from her idiotic policies.
I uninstalled FB from my phone about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I was getting fed up with it too. So far I am not missing it so much that I want to reinstall it. I never had Insta or Tik-Tok or Twitface installed. I don’t screen time on my phone hardly at all now. I check my emails and WhatsApp and Messenger and stuff. but I don’t have anthing fed by an algorithm. Aoart from YouTube on my laptop.
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
On the odd occasion that I get to peruse farcebook, almost every second post is some garbage from one neuron paid for by Gina.Now I realise why the people that I work with are sucked in by the misinformation and ragebait.
And now I am concerned that this garbage is influencing our next election.
It worked for the other orange moron, and is likely to work for our orange moron.
I’ll be working in the background to talk to these potential donkey voters one at a time to ask simple questions about policies and government. I hope that I can influence a few voters away from her idiotic policies.
I uninstalled FB from my phone about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I was getting fed up with it too. So far I am not missing it so much that I want to reinstall it. I never had Insta or Tik-Tok or Twitface installed. I don’t screen time on my phone hardly at all now. I check my emails and WhatsApp and Messenger and stuff. but I don’t have anthing fed by an algorithm. Aoart from YouTube on my laptop.
Good for you.
I have to have farcebook because of my fire brigade page, Whatsapp for several fire area notifications, and messenger to communicate with the other vollies.
Kingy said:
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
On the odd occasion that I get to peruse farcebook, almost every second post is some garbage from one neuron paid for by Gina.Now I realise why the people that I work with are sucked in by the misinformation and ragebait.
And now I am concerned that this garbage is influencing our next election.
It worked for the other orange moron, and is likely to work for our orange moron.
I’ll be working in the background to talk to these potential donkey voters one at a time to ask simple questions about policies and government. I hope that I can influence a few voters away from her idiotic policies.
I uninstalled FB from my phone about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I was getting fed up with it too. So far I am not missing it so much that I want to reinstall it. I never had Insta or Tik-Tok or Twitface installed. I don’t screen time on my phone hardly at all now. I check my emails and WhatsApp and Messenger and stuff. but I don’t have anthing fed by an algorithm. Aoart from YouTube on my laptop.
Good for you.
I have to have farcebook because of my fire brigade page, Whatsapp for several fire area notifications, and messenger to communicate with the other vollies.
at least it’s not foreign inference
is supposedly busting myths by presenting information verbosely and with poorly posed charts also bordering on disinformation
¿
we say it is
oh so this is
By feedback he presumably meant 10 days of Labor getting absolutely rinsed on social media, talkback radio and any other platform the small business community could find.
actually a hit piece and a disingenuous coordinated attack because
The satirical content suggested customers were in fact the big losers, because a cup of coffee had gone from $5 plus an 8 cent surcharge to $5.50 following the ban. It was a mark of how much the government was on the backfoot that not one Labor MP managed to argue that removing such a surcharge did not, by itself, justify a 50 cent price hike.
if the small business community were actually honest about it they should be supporting and embracing and celebrating the opportunity to inflate their profits even more as claimed
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.
Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
Given the support for One Nation, I suspect a lot of people are much less politically literate than one might have hoped.
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
Also, is socialism inherently bad? Does anyone still believe that old chestnut?
party_pants said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
Also, is socialism inherently bad? Does anyone still believe that old chestnut?
Yes.
Billionaires.
Not keen on things that might affect their plans for a New Feudalism.
Rain.
Weeding suspended.
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
But the Labor party is socialist.
From the ALP National Constitution
https://www.alp.org.au/media/3572/alp-national-constitution-adopted-19-august-2023.pdf
4 The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields.
Democratic socialism Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society.
esselte said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
But the Labor party is socialist.
From the ALP National Constitution
https://www.alp.org.au/media/3572/alp-national-constitution-adopted-19-august-2023.pdf4 The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields.
Democratic socialism Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society.
Could you send that to the ALP?
Some of them seem to have lost that page.
esselte said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
But the Labor party is socialist.
From the ALP National Constitution
https://www.alp.org.au/media/3572/alp-national-constitution-adopted-19-august-2023.pdf4 The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields.
Democratic socialism Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society.
Could you send that to the ALP?
Some of them seem to have lost that page.
esselte said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
But the Labor party is socialist.
From the ALP National Constitution
https://www.alp.org.au/media/3572/alp-national-constitution-adopted-19-august-2023.pdf4 The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields.
Democratic socialism Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society.
Hadn’t seen that.
Well they do a bloody good job of hiding their evil socialist ways.
esselte said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
But the Labor party is socialist.
From the ALP National Constitution
https://www.alp.org.au/media/3572/alp-national-constitution-adopted-19-august-2023.pdf4 The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields.
Democratic socialism Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society.
“Democratic socialism” is not the same thing as regular socialism. It probably needs a new and distinctive name that does not include the word socialism in it. But nobody has invented such a word yet.
The ALP tends to be as socialist as they see as strictly necessary at any given time, or perhaps a little less.
“All things in moderation.”
party_pants said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
Also, is socialism inherently bad? Does anyone still believe that old chestnut?
Well, no political system is inherently good or bad. They all just have good and bad aspects to them.
The biggest problem with socialism in the modern era is the socialist advocates. Watch them capitalize on the backlash to Trump over the next few years. Watch them closely.
“You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! Surely, comrades,” cried Squealer almost pleadingly, skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, “surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?” Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Jones back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say. The importance of keeping the pigs in good health was all too obvious. So it was agreed without further argument that the milk and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of apples when they ripened) should be reserved for the pigs alone.
party_pants said:
esselte said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
On the ABC radio this morning I heard some so-called Liberal guy ranting about how the Labor party was socialist.Seriously?
Does anybody really believe that sort of crap?
But the Labor party is socialist.
From the ALP National Constitution
https://www.alp.org.au/media/3572/alp-national-constitution-adopted-19-august-2023.pdf4 The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields.
Democratic socialism Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society.
“Democratic socialism” is not the same thing as regular socialism. It probably needs a new and distinctive name that does not include the word socialism in it. But nobody has invented such a word yet.
I think it’s fine for them to be a socialist party. They just can’t be allowed to become overly authoritarian about it. And same for the Libs. It’s fine for them to be a capitalist party, but if they start to become too authoritarian then we will have some strong words for them down the pub on Friday arvo i imagine.
esselte said:
party_pants said:
esselte said:But the Labor party is socialist.
From the ALP National Constitution
https://www.alp.org.au/media/3572/alp-national-constitution-adopted-19-august-2023.pdf4 The Australian Labor Party is a democratic socialist party and has the objective of the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields.
Democratic socialism Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society.
“Democratic socialism” is not the same thing as regular socialism. It probably needs a new and distinctive name that does not include the word socialism in it. But nobody has invented such a word yet.
I think it’s fine for them to be a socialist party. They just can’t be allowed to become overly authoritarian about it. And same for the Libs. It’s fine for them to be a capitalist party, but if they start to become too authoritarian then we will have some strong words for them down the pub on Friday arvo i imagine.
We’ve always been a nation that broadly supports a mixed economy. We can’t trust governments to manage everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt. We can’t trust big business to run everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt – but just in a different form.
party_pants said:
esselte said:
party_pants said:“Democratic socialism” is not the same thing as regular socialism. It probably needs a new and distinctive name that does not include the word socialism in it. But nobody has invented such a word yet.
I think it’s fine for them to be a socialist party. They just can’t be allowed to become overly authoritarian about it. And same for the Libs. It’s fine for them to be a capitalist party, but if they start to become too authoritarian then we will have some strong words for them down the pub on Friday arvo i imagine.
We’ve always been a nation that broadly supports a mixed economy. We can’t trust governments to manage everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt. We can’t trust big business to run everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt – but just in a different form.
‘Gentlemen’ who want to behave like thugs, thugs who want to behave like ‘gentlemen’.
party_pants said:
esselte said:
party_pants said:“Democratic socialism” is not the same thing as regular socialism. It probably needs a new and distinctive name that does not include the word socialism in it. But nobody has invented such a word yet.
I think it’s fine for them to be a socialist party. They just can’t be allowed to become overly authoritarian about it. And same for the Libs. It’s fine for them to be a capitalist party, but if they start to become too authoritarian then we will have some strong words for them down the pub on Friday arvo i imagine.
We’ve always been a nation that broadly supports a mixed economy. We can’t trust governments to manage everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt. We can’t trust big business to run everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt – but just in a different form.
Ideally you want your socialist revolutionaries to be kinda chill people, but chill people don’t tend to agitate for change a lot so instead you get ambitious, predacious, perfidious, odious assholes as the main advocates for socialism who become become ambitious, predacious, perfidious, odious political leaders after the revolution succeeds.
party_pants said:
“Democratic socialism” is not the same thing as regular socialism. It probably needs a new and distinctive name that does not include the word socialism in it. But nobody has invented such a word yet.
I asked an AI for a catchy new name for ‘democratic socialism’.
How about:
AI Mode conversation: can you come up with a catchy new name for ‘democratic socialism’?
can you come up with a catchy new name for ‘democratic socialism’?
Rebranding democratic socialism into something fresh and catchy requires removing the cold war baggage of the word “socialism” while leaning into its core values: democracy, shared economic power, robust public services, and equity.
Here are a few catchy alternative names, categorised by their specific strategic angle:
1. The Single-Word Modernisers
These options function like modern party names (e.g., “The Greens”) and work well as a clean, single-word political identity.
• Equitarianism: (The Equitarian Party) — A blend of equity and egalitarianism. It directly frames the philosophy around fairness, dignity, and a level playing field.
• Commonism: — Shifting the focus entirely away from “state control” and putting it squarely onto the “commons” (publicly owned spaces, healthcare, and resources).
• Civicism: — Emphasises the role of the civic community and public infrastructure working together, stripping away old economic jargon.
2. The Policy & Economy Focus
These names clarify what the economic model actually aims to achieve—extending democratic principles into corporate and financial spheres.
• Economic Democracy: — This is already an academic term, but it serves as an excellent rebrand. It poses a simple question: If we vote for our political leaders, why shouldn’t we have a vote in our economic lives?
• Cooperative Capitalism: — A softer bridge for audiences wary of the left. It emphasizes worker cooperatives, shared wealth, and collaborative markets rather than state-run economies.
• Public-First Democracy: — Highly intuitive. It communicates that vital services (healthcare, energy, and education) should serve the public good before corporate profit.
3. Progressive & Future-Forward
These catchphrases lean into a populist, forward-moving vibe that focuses on community action and progress.
• Democratic Progressivism: — A term already gaining some traction among analysts. It pairs democratic systems with the highly popular, forward-looking ethos of the progressive movement.
• The Common Wealth Movement: — A direct nod to “the commonwealth,” framing the ideology around the idea that national prosperity should be enjoyed by everyone, not just concentrated at the top.
• The People’s Share: — A highly marketable, populist phrase that rebrands collective ownership as a dividend or a “share” that every citizen inherits by right.
esselte said:
party_pants said:
esselte said:I think it’s fine for them to be a socialist party. They just can’t be allowed to become overly authoritarian about it. And same for the Libs. It’s fine for them to be a capitalist party, but if they start to become too authoritarian then we will have some strong words for them down the pub on Friday arvo i imagine.
We’ve always been a nation that broadly supports a mixed economy. We can’t trust governments to manage everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt. We can’t trust big business to run everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt – but just in a different form.
Ideally you want your socialist revolutionaries to be kinda chill people, but chill people don’t tend to agitate for change a lot so instead you get ambitious, predacious, perfidious, odious assholes as the main advocates for socialism who become become ambitious, predacious, perfidious, odious political leaders after the revolution succeeds.
I’ve come to thinking that we need more alternative economic structures than just the binary corporations limited by shares on the one hand and government bureaucracy on the other. More co-operatives and member-owned clubs. We don’t even have a legal category for a for-profit members club in most states, incorporation usually requires an explicitly non-profit constitution.
I would include private town and cities in the mix too.
party_pants said:
esselte said:
party_pants said:We’ve always been a nation that broadly supports a mixed economy. We can’t trust governments to manage everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt. We can’t trust big business to run everything without becoming authoritarian and corrupt – but just in a different form.
Ideally you want your socialist revolutionaries to be kinda chill people, but chill people don’t tend to agitate for change a lot so instead you get ambitious, predacious, perfidious, odious assholes as the main advocates for socialism who become become ambitious, predacious, perfidious, odious political leaders after the revolution succeeds.
I’ve come to thinking that we need more alternative economic structures than just the binary corporations limited by shares on the one hand and government bureaucracy on the other. More co-operatives and member-owned clubs. We don’t even have a legal category for a for-profit members club in most states, incorporation usually requires an explicitly non-profit constitution.
I would include private town and cities in the mix too.
Have you heard of LETS, it is a system where you can barter and exchange your services. There’s all forms across Australia.
In the US at the No Kings rallies, the white permaculture folks met elderly people who were eating one meal per day. So there’s been a lot of meeting up and sharing of produce and meals.
The Black women have been organising that each family grows one type of food to share with the rest of their street blocks. There’s a few podcasts on Black women getting into hydroponics., houses and apartments.
There’s lots of informal systems in place.
I worked for OzHarvest collecting food from Woollies, Coles and markets and taking this food to Department of Housing areas, low socio-economic areas, unhoused young people etc.
I did corporate events so the team would come and cook meals for 300 people. Educating them on the types of food insecurity etc was part of the programme.
I taught nutrition and cooking as well to young people.
Dropping off food to homeless families in different areas was part of the deal too. It was hard to build up trust with women who were fleeing violence with their children.
They would only provide meals from Monday to Friday so the unhoused were terribly hungry on the Mondays. It was so sad.
It is just connecting folks up to each other, that’s what we need to do.
Everyone does a little and it makes a difference.
captain_spalding said:
party_pants said:
“Democratic socialism” is not the same thing as regular socialism. It probably needs a new and distinctive name that does not include the word socialism in it. But nobody has invented such a word yet.
I asked an AI for a catchy new name for ‘democratic socialism’.
How about:
• The People’s Share: — A highly marketable, populist phrase that rebrands collective ownership as a dividend or a “share” that every citizen inherits by right.
fair fair sorry the phrase still contains the word socialism but we guess there already is a term for it
Socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Is that the best they can do?
roughbarked said:
Is that the best they can do?
Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Is that the best they can do?
Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
What’s Dutton doing these days? Is he also available?
Divine Angel said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Is that the best they can do?
Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
What’s Dutton doing these days? Is he also available?
I’m sure Tony Abbott would jump at any invitation, but i very much doubt if they’d offer him one.
Divine Angel said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Is that the best they can do?
Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
What’s Dutton doing these days? Is he also available?
I’d imagine he’s sitting on several executive boards and getting paid lots for not doing very much work.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Is that the best they can do?
Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
That’s who he wants.
don’t know why.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Is that the best they can do?
Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
I read an article on the the setting up of the Covid relief for businesses and Frydenberg was advised to insert a claw back cause and he declined to do so. That idiot (his name will come back to me) got $22 million dollars that he didn’t qualify for and there was nothing that could be done.
Divine Angel said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Is that the best they can do?
Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
What’s Dutton doing these days? Is he also available?
Please, please, please do not say his name three times.
Beetlejuice…ms spock said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Is that the best they can do?
Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
I read an article on the the setting up of the Covid relief for businesses and Frydenberg was advised to insert a claw back cause and he declined to do so. That idiot (his name will come back to me) got $22 million dollars that he didn’t qualify for and there was nothing that could be done.
Hardly Normal?
roughbarked said:
ms spock said:
captain_spalding said:Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
I read an article on the the setting up of the Covid relief for businesses and Frydenberg was advised to insert a claw back cause and he declined to do so. That idiot (his name will come back to me) got $22 million dollars that he didn’t qualify for and there was nothing that could be done.
Hardly Normal?
Not normal, there is generally a claw back clause if a business was found not to meet the criteria. Then the money could be retrieved.
roughbarked said:
ms spock said:
captain_spalding said:Frydenberg? That sneaky little shit?
I read an article on the the setting up of the Covid relief for businesses and Frydenberg was advised to insert a claw back cause and he declined to do so. That idiot (his name will come back to me) got $22 million dollars that he didn’t qualify for and there was nothing that could be done.
Hardly Normal?
And also yes!
You remembered the idiots name.
ms spock said:
roughbarked said:
ms spock said:I read an article on the the setting up of the Covid relief for businesses and Frydenberg was advised to insert a claw back cause and he declined to do so. That idiot (his name will come back to me) got $22 million dollars that he didn’t qualify for and there was nothing that could be done.
Hardly Normal?
And also yes!
You remembered the idiots name.
correct. ;)
roughbarked said:
ms spock said:
roughbarked said:Hardly Normal?
And also yes!
You remembered the idiots name.
correct. ;)
:)
ms spock said:
roughbarked said:
ms spock said:I read an article on the the setting up of the Covid relief for businesses and Frydenberg was advised to insert a claw back cause and he declined to do so. That idiot (his name will come back to me) got $22 million dollars that he didn’t qualify for and there was nothing that could be done.
Hardly Normal?
Not normal, there is generally a claw back clause if a business was found not to meet the criteria. Then the money could be retrieved.
“Hardly Normal” is a common nickname for “Harvey Norman”.
Michael V said:
ms spock said:
roughbarked said:Hardly Normal?
Not normal, there is generally a claw back clause if a business was found not to meet the criteria. Then the money could be retrieved.
“Hardly Normal” is a common nickname for “Harvey Norman”.
And I see that you got it. Apologies.
Michael V said:
ms spock said:
roughbarked said:Hardly Normal?
Not normal, there is generally a claw back clause if a business was found not to meet the criteria. Then the money could be retrieved.
“Hardly Normal” is a common nickname for “Harvey Norman”.
I was slow on the uptake.
Michael V said:
Michael V said:
ms spock said:Not normal, there is generally a claw back clause if a business was found not to meet the criteria. Then the money could be retrieved.
“Hardly Normal” is a common nickname for “Harvey Norman”.
And I see that you got it. Apologies.
I was very slow off the mark.
:)
Today’s Newspoll ( n = 1241)
Two Party Preferred
ALP v LNP: ALP leads 53.5 to 46.5
ALP v ONP: ALP leads 52.3 to 47.7
Three way Preferred Prime Minister
Albanese 45%
Hanson 30%
Taylor 25%
Is anyone surprised?
Nope, didn’t think so.
OK but if they’re open and not accepting students what are they doing¿
SCIENCE said:
OK but if they’re open and not accepting students what are they doing¿
Well, they’re running perfectly.
Just like we used to say that the hospital would function perfectly, if only it wasn’t for all these sick people who keep rolling up at the door and demanding attention.
well how dare they
Victorian government ‘manipulating’ planning laws to win critical minerals race, expert says
if Corruption were in charge they would never do that, they wouldn’t be sneakily manipulating any laws, they’d just go ahead and approve it all
SCIENCE said:
well how dare they
Victorian government ‘manipulating’ planning laws to win critical minerals race, expert says
if Corruption were in charge they would never do that, they wouldn’t be sneakily manipulating any laws, they’d just go ahead and approve it all
“All they’ve really done is rolled a turd in glitter to make it look shiny,” organic vegetable grower Kane Busch said.
ms spock said:
SCIENCE said:
well how dare they
Victorian government ‘manipulating’ planning laws to win critical minerals race, expert says
if Corruption were in charge they would never do that, they wouldn’t be sneakily manipulating any laws, they’d just go ahead and approve it all
“All they’ve really done is rolled a turd in glitter to make it look shiny,” organic vegetable grower Kane Busch said.
^
some people will say hey at least Corruption are honest there but we’ve really come around to the idea that it’s probably better that people appear to be aware that there are rules and they are breaking them and they shouldn’t be doing so bare facedly
seems much harder to come back from a position where players can just get away acting like there are no rules at all
palliative care is a scam, all those healthcare workers who have never died
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson took aim at the Albanese government’s economic record and said recent policy backdowns, like delaying the Australian Tax Office’s ban on credit card payments, had hurt the business community.
“Too many people in this government have never run a business,” she told the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) conference in Canberra.
“Yet, they’re very confident telling people who do run businesses how to do it.
“We now have a treasurer with no private sector experience, and his Labor government thinks it knows better than you how to run your business.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-13/labor-confronts-one-nations-growing-appeal/107262318
American right-wing body Turning Point USA backs Exclusive Brethren before hearing
Michael Bachelard
October 14, 2026 — 5:00am
The Exclusive Brethren’s “Man of God”, Bruce Hales, has won the full-throated support of high-profile American right-wing advocacy group Turning Point USA as he prepares for a parliamentary-committee grilling about his church’s pro-Coalition campaign at the last election.
The American lobby group, once headed by slain activist Charlie Kirk, claims summoning Hales to give evidence before a hearing of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters on Friday signals a broader attack on people of faith.
“The Brethren may be the first to face this, but I do not believe they will be the last,” wrote Pastor Lucas Miles, who leads Turning Point USA Faith, in a recent post on social media platform X. “If this approach succeeds against one church, it becomes a precedent of intimidation for all churches.”
Miles called on the Trump government to lobby the Australian government on the matter.
Hales and his son, Gareth, will give evidence on Friday after a request from the Electoral Matters Committee, which is investigating the church’s undisclosed pro-Peter Dutton campaign at the last election.
The committee is probing whether the church should be declared a “significant third-party” campaigner under electoral law, given the huge size of its secretive financial and campaign contributions.
.
The Brethren claims the campaigning was carried out by motivated individual church members, who co-ordinated the action themselves. It had, they say, nothing to do with the church.
Hales’ son and potential successor, Gareth, will give evidence immediately before his father. He was among the senior Brethren elders in chats with far-right figures, co-ordinating a series of stunts against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Greens and teal candidates.
Gareth’s company, Sante Global, organised key meetings that included far-right figures and neo-Nazi associates and is identified in the paper trail of payments to them.
It’s the first time since the early 1990s – before he was the world leader of the wealthy separatist church – that Bruce Hales has been called to account by a “worldly” authority.
In a statement run in The Australian this week, Bruce Hales claimed: “I did not participate in the campaign, nor did I ask anyone to do so.
“There has been considerable misinformation spread by the press, but I am completely confident that truth will prevail and God’s rights in upholding government will be upheld until we are no longer here on Earth and in this world.”
The final reference is to the “Rapture” – a key Brethren teaching which predicts Hales’ followers, “the saints”, will be secretly swept up to heaven before others by the second coming of Jesus Christ. Hales has said this moment is “overdue”.
Exclusive Brethren secretly paid far-right activists to perform stunts disrupting the federal election
Hales also preaches a radical “doctrine of separation”, under which his members cannot eat or drink with people outside the church. Women cannot preach and cannot take a leadership position over a man, and homosexuality cannot be practised.
The Brethren must cultivate “a hatred, an utter hatred of the world”, Hales has preached. “You must hate the world, every feature of the world, at every point you hate it,” he told his flock in 2006.
Referring to the decision to call Hales to give evidence, Pastor Miles, who is also president of US Christian conglomerate The Nfluence Network, Inc., wrote: “We are going to need the full force and support of all those who value the freedom of the faithful to engage this! Ignore it, and don’t be surprised when this comes to a city near you!”
Miles called on the Trump government to “take notice”, and encouraged the US state department to “raise these concerns directly with Australian counterparts”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has been approached to ask if they have received any communications.
Hales has also received the backing of the Coalition, which has accused the Electoral Matters Committee of a witch hunt, persecuting a religious minority, being un-Australian and trying to bring about a “Communist utopia”.
Australian Christian lobby group Freedom for Faith – which also counts hard-right Jewish organisation the Australian Jewish Association in its coalition – has also supported Hales despite a record of antisemitic statements reported by this masthead.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/american-right-wing-body-turning-point-usa-backs-exclusive-brethren-before-hearing-20261014-p61547.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
American right-wing body Turning Point USA backs Exclusive Brethren before hearingMichael Bachelard
October 14, 2026 — 5:00am
Miles called on the Trump government to lobby the Australian government on the matter.
Wot?
Ampol profits up 376% as oil sector cashes in on Iran war
The US-Israeli war on Iran has been a cash bonanza for the oil sector as Australians pay the costs
https://www.deepcutnews.com/p/ampol-profits-up-376-as-oil-sector
I don’t know if this article is legit, I’m just posting it in case it is.
Bastards in any case.
Spiny Norman said:
Ampol profits up 376% as oil sector cashes in on Iran war
The US-Israeli war on Iran has been a cash bonanza for the oil sector as Australians pay the costshttps://www.deepcutnews.com/p/ampol-profits-up-376-as-oil-sector
I don’t know if this article is legit, I’m just posting it in case it is.
Bastards in any case.
Maybe they’ve always been bastards?
Spiny Norman said:
Ampol profits up 376% as oil sector cashes in on Iran war
The US-Israeli war on Iran has been a cash bonanza for the oil sector as Australians pay the costshttps://www.deepcutnews.com/p/ampol-profits-up-376-as-oil-sector
I don’t know if this article is legit, I’m just posting it in case it is.
Bastards in any case.
Was reading yesterday about Bali running out of fuel. Many fuel stations have shut, even those roadside stalls where they sell fuel in old coke bottles. The few open fuel stations have queues for several kilometres. (Fiji didn’t seem to have that issue two weeks ago.)
roughbarked said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
American right-wing body Turning Point USA backs Exclusive Brethren before hearingMichael Bachelard
October 14, 2026 — 5:00am
Miles called on the Trump government to lobby the Australian government on the matter.
Wot?
Huh?
LOL
oh this is cool
A recording device was discovered in the cabin of the Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Leeuwin on October 11. Military police are investigating the incident and working with civilian authorities. The ABC understands the device was found in a female-only cabin.
Today, Jarrod Bleijie announced sweeping changes to Queensland’s workers’ compensation system that could make it harder for workers suffering psychological injuries to access the support they need.
Under the LNP’s proposed changes, workers would face a tougher test to prove their psychological injury was caused by their job.
Police officers, nurses, teachers, paramedics, child safety officers and corrections staff face violence, trauma and abuse while doing their jobs.
They put their health and safety on the line to protect Queenslanders. Now the LNP wants to make it harder for them to get help when they get hurt.
Queensland workers deserve safer workplaces, proper support and fair access to compensation. Not another fight with their own government.
Protect the people who protect Queensland.
Authorised by J. King, Queensland Council of Unions, 16 Peel St South Brisbane.
so uh we guess
¿ state ownership communism bad good ?
SCIENCE said:
so uh we guess
¿
state ownershipcommunismbadgood ?
I’m sure that Gina will be happy to have it. She’s happy to have everything else.
thank fk our premiers are above the culture wars and not woke and respect the separation of church and state
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
What about doctors?
Nurses get ordered back to work, but doctors can chuck all the tanties they like?
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
Educated people question the status quo
Lots of ways this world works that are just wrong and designed to keep us all in line
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
I mean goodness forbid that people who keep the country safe, healthy, and educated actualy also have rights.
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
Educated people question the status quo
Lots of ways this world works that are just wrong and designed to keep us all in line
We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
It’s OK to treat their workers badly, but they think it is not OK for workers to withdraw their services in order to convince them to treat workers better.
Arts said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
I mean goodness forbid that people who keep the country safe, healthy, and educated actualy also have rights.
wait but he loves education that’s why he doesn’t want teachers to stop their jobs for even a moment
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
It’s OK to treat their workers badly, but they think it is not OK for workers to withdraw their services in order to convince them to treat workers better.
The beatings will continue…
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
What about doctors?
Nurses get ordered back to work, but doctors can chuck all the tanties they like?
don’t know we’ve never worked as a nurse or a doctor in qld but we thought the solution was always the same if they don’t like it then they can just leave
SCIENCE said:
Arts said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
I mean goodness forbid that people who keep the country safe, healthy, and educated actualy also have rights.
wait but he loves education that’s why he doesn’t want teachers to stop their jobs for even a moment
next time DA should send him a large whip so he can fulfil his dream love of teachers’ work
Divine Angel said:
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
Educated people question the status quo
Lots of ways this world works that are just wrong and designed to keep us all in line
We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
I still want to know about whether doctors are exempt.
I suggest that they would be.
Because, you know what would happen if he threatened to ban doctors from going on strike?
They’d bloody well go on strike, immediately.
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
Cymek said:
I thought I saw a couple of Christmas decoration the other day, those tartan bowties
Don’t worry.
Once the campaign to convince Australians to ‘celebrate’ the November marketing opportunity of Thanksgiving gets under way and has effect, they simply wont have enough display space to accommodate stuff for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all at the same time, so Xmas stuff wont be able to appear before Nov. 1.
Everywhere we went in Gympie the other day had Halloween decorations up. It’s cultural imperialism. Makes my blood boil.
thank fk our premiers are above the culture wars and not woke and respect the separation of church and state
wait so broadening jesusmass into an inclusive annual community gathering is bad
but commercialising it into a capitalist hellscape and subverting its message for profit is good
we love team sports
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
It’s OK to treat their workers badly, but they think it is not OK for workers to withdraw their services in order to convince them to treat workers better.
Possibly as these jobs are considered essential its morally wrong to strike so you just put up with the poor treatment and conditions.
That in itself is a poor way to think and shows the general decline in those industries
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
It’s OK to treat their workers badly, but they think it is not OK for workers to withdraw their services in order to convince them to treat workers better.
Possibly as these jobs are considered essential its morally wrong to strike so you just put up with the poor treatment and conditions.
That in itself is a poor way to think and shows the general decline in those industries
When nurses go on strike, they never all disappear from the workplace.
They do have consciences, and a regard for the care of sick people.
What they do is to organise it so that the smallest number of nurses are on hand to provide the minimum level of care that requires nurses to be there.
This compels health management to reorganise things so that ward hands, caretakers, cleaners, volunteers and even some low-level supervisors have to be drafted to cover some of the less specialised tasks normally done by nurses. Of course, that has flow-on effects on other areas of hospital and clinic operations.
I can tell you, management does not enjoy such times.
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
It’s OK to treat their workers badly, but they think it is not OK for workers to withdraw their services in order to convince them to treat workers better.
Possibly as these jobs are considered essential its morally wrong to strike so you just put up with the poor treatment and conditions.
That in itself is a poor way to think and shows the general decline in those industries
it’s because they are essential that they should be treated with respect and equality and fairness… morally.
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Everywhere we went in Gympie the other day had Halloween decorations up. It’s cultural imperialism. Makes my blood boil.
thank fk our premiers are above the culture wars and not woke and respect the separation of church and state
wait so broadening jesusmass into an inclusive annual community gathering is bad
but commercialising it into a capitalist hellscape and subverting its message for profit is good
we love team sports
Just a step to the right.
( The Tasmanian Premier just said what PHON supporters say all the time.)
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Everywhere we went in Gympie the other day had Halloween decorations up. It’s cultural imperialism. Makes my blood boil.
thank fk our premiers are above the culture wars and not woke and respect the separation of church and state
wait so broadening jesusmass into an inclusive annual community gathering is bad
but commercialising it into a capitalist hellscape and subverting its message for profit is good
we love team sports
Wouldn’t it be loverly if your biggest gripe with the state of the world is one school referring to an end-of-year extravaganza as “end-of-year extravaganza”?
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:SCIENCE said:
thank fk our premiers are above the culture wars and not woke and respect the separation of church and state
wait so broadening jesusmass into an inclusive annual community gathering is bad
but commercialising it into a capitalist hellscape and subverting its message for profit is good
we love team sports
Having read the article, I have one thing to say:Wouldn’t it be loverly if your biggest gripe with the state of the world is one school referring to an end-of-year extravaganza as “end-of-year extravaganza”?
Well, i, for one, think that it should be called an ‘extravamalollganzapalooza’.
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:wait so broadening jesusmass into an inclusive annual community gathering is bad
but commercialising it into a capitalist hellscape and subverting its message for profit is good
we love team sports
Having read the article, I have one thing to say:Wouldn’t it be loverly if your biggest gripe with the state of the world is one school referring to an end-of-year extravaganza as “end-of-year extravaganza”?
Well, i, for one, think that it should be called an ‘extravamalollganzapalooza’.
Christmaspalooza
Christmas for losers
Arts said:
Cymek said:
Michael V said:It’s OK to treat their workers badly, but they think it is not OK for workers to withdraw their services in order to convince them to treat workers better.
Possibly as these jobs are considered essential its morally wrong to strike so you just put up with the poor treatment and conditions.
That in itself is a poor way to think and shows the general decline in those industries
it’s because they are essential that they should be treated with respect and equality and fairness… morally.
Yes, if you let your health system decline you are creating all sorts of problems for the future.
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:wait so broadening jesusmass into an inclusive annual community gathering is bad
but commercialising it into a capitalist hellscape and subverting its message for profit is good
we love team sports
Having read the article, I have one thing to say:Wouldn’t it be loverly if your biggest gripe with the state of the world is one school referring to an end-of-year extravaganza as “end-of-year extravaganza”?
Well, i, for one, think that it should be called an ‘extravamalollganzapalooza’.
Apologies, got that word wrong.
It is, of course, spelt ‘extravamalollaganzapalooza’.
Cymek said:
Arts said:
Cymek said:Possibly as these jobs are considered essential its morally wrong to strike so you just put up with the poor treatment and conditions.
That in itself is a poor way to think and shows the general decline in those industries
it’s because they are essential that they should be treated with respect and equality and fairness… morally.
Yes, if you let your health system decline you are creating all sorts of problems for the future.
Or creating an atmosphere in which the ‘private industry would do it so-o-o-o-o much better’ claim starts to look interesting to some people.
Divine Angel said:
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:Having read the article, I have one thing to say:
Wouldn’t it be loverly if your biggest gripe with the state of the world is one school referring to an end-of-year extravaganza as “end-of-year extravaganza”?
Well, i, for one, think that it should be called an ‘extravamalollganzapalooza’.
Christmaspalooza
Christmas for losers
a festivus for the rest of us
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:SCIENCE said:
thank fk our premiers are above the culture wars and not woke and respect the separation of church and state
wait so broadening jesusmass into an inclusive annual community gathering is bad
but commercialising it into a capitalist hellscape and subverting its message for profit is good
we love team sports
Having read the article, I have one thing to say:Wouldn’t it be loverly if your biggest gripe with the state of the world is one school referring to an end-of-year extravaganza as “end-of-year extravaganza”?
Yes, yes it would.
Arts said:
Divine Angel said:
captain_spalding said:Well, i, for one, think that it should be called an ‘extravamalollganzapalooza’.
Christmaspalooza
Christmas for losers
a festivus for the rest of us
I shall go to the brookie hall this christmas morning for the usual gathering of a few locals. then I shall return home to spend the rest of the day by myself, just me, alone.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-15/qld-proposed-laws-industrial-relations/107270024
ABC finally provides a non-paywalled version
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:
wait so broadening jesusmass into an inclusive annual community gathering is bad
but commercialising it into a capitalist hellscape and subverting its message for profit is good
we love team sports
Having read the article, I have one thing to say:Wouldn’t it be loverly if your biggest gripe with the state of the world is one school referring to an end-of-year extravaganza as “end-of-year extravaganza”?
Yes, yes it would.
^ ^^
“ The proposed changes would also require employment to be the “major significant” contributing factor for psychological injury claims.
“Over the past decade, the number of accepted psychological injury claims has increased by almost 268 per cent, including an increase of more than 76 per cent over the past five years alone,” Mr Bleijie told state parliament on Wednesday night.
Queensland’s peak union body said proposed changes would make it harder for frontline workers to access support for psychological injuries.”
What I’m hearing is, let’s not address the cause of the problem, let’s make it more difficult to access treatment.
Divine Angel said:
“ The proposed changes would also require employment to be the “major significant” contributing factor for psychological injury claims.“Over the past decade, the number of accepted psychological injury claims has increased by almost 268 per cent, including an increase of more than 76 per cent over the past five years alone,” Mr Bleijie told state parliament on Wednesday night.
Queensland’s peak union body said proposed changes would make it harder for frontline workers to access support for psychological injuries.”
What I’m hearing is, let’s not address the cause of the problem, let’s make it more difficult to access treatment.
As i say, the beatings will continue…
Divine Angel said:
“ The proposed changes would also require employment to be the “major significant” contributing factor for psychological injury claims.“Over the past decade, the number of accepted psychological injury claims has increased by almost 268 per cent, including an increase of more than 76 per cent over the past five years alone,” Mr Bleijie told state parliament on Wednesday night.
Queensland’s peak union body said proposed changes would make it harder for frontline workers to access support for psychological injuries.”
What I’m hearing is, let’s not address the cause of the problem, let’s make it more difficult to access treatment.
Of course.
Divine Angel said:
“ The proposed changes would also require employment to be the “major significant” contributing factor for psychological injury claims.“Over the past decade, the number of accepted psychological injury claims has increased by almost 268 per cent, including an increase of more than 76 per cent over the past five years alone,” Mr Bleijie told state parliament on Wednesday night.
Queensland’s peak union body said proposed changes would make it harder for frontline workers to access support for psychological injuries.”
What I’m hearing is, let’s not address the cause of the problem, let’s make it more difficult to access treatment.
so when were psychological injury claims introduced? and the increase could mean that people are recognising a long present affliction with more insight and acceptance that this is harmful.
My union’s onto it.
There’s now a public petition you can sign protesting against the proposed changes
https://www.keepqldsafe.com/action
Arts said:
Divine Angel said:
“ The proposed changes would also require employment to be the “major significant” contributing factor for psychological injury claims.“Over the past decade, the number of accepted psychological injury claims has increased by almost 268 per cent, including an increase of more than 76 per cent over the past five years alone,” Mr Bleijie told state parliament on Wednesday night.
Queensland’s peak union body said proposed changes would make it harder for frontline workers to access support for psychological injuries.”
What I’m hearing is, let’s not address the cause of the problem, let’s make it more difficult to access treatment.
so when were psychological injury claims introduced? and the increase could mean that people are recognising a long present affliction with more insight and acceptance that this is harmful.
No doubt that’s one aspect. There’s also an increased occupational violence across the board. Obviously my context is education, but there’s also increases to health practitioners and police.
Divine Angel said:
Arts said:
Divine Angel said:
“ The proposed changes would also require employment to be the “major significant” contributing factor for psychological injury claims.“Over the past decade, the number of accepted psychological injury claims has increased by almost 268 per cent, including an increase of more than 76 per cent over the past five years alone,” Mr Bleijie told state parliament on Wednesday night.
Queensland’s peak union body said proposed changes would make it harder for frontline workers to access support for psychological injuries.”
What I’m hearing is, let’s not address the cause of the problem, let’s make it more difficult to access treatment.
so when were psychological injury claims introduced? and the increase could mean that people are recognising a long present affliction with more insight and acceptance that this is harmful.
No doubt that’s one aspect. There’s also an increased occupational violence across the board. Obviously my context is education, but there’s also increases to health practitioners and police.
so the workplaces that receive the most occupational violence, since they get so much anyway what’s a little more political violence, they deserve it
ah well at least it’s the migrants that are criminals and get to be denied entry
Why can’t guys just, not be dicks?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-15/greens-jordon-steele-john-alleged-inappropriate-comments/107270620
The Greens say WA senator Jordon Steele-John has taken leave from the party room following reports he made inappropriate comments towards women.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that a letter from seven party members was sent to Greens leader David Shoebridge on Tuesday night.
The letter states the group has been made aware of “multiple allegations” against the senator that span from 2017 to 2025.
“These allegations all concern his behaviour in the presence of women,” the authors wrote, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are aware of multiple women who have taken up roles or volunteered in the party, who because of these allegations, have been warned not to … be alone with him.”
Divine Angel said:
Why can’t guys just, not be dicks?https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-15/greens-jordon-steele-john-alleged-inappropriate-comments/107270620
The Greens say WA senator Jordon Steele-John has taken leave from the party room following reports he made inappropriate comments towards women.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that a letter from seven party members was sent to Greens leader David Shoebridge on Tuesday night.
The letter states the group has been made aware of “multiple allegations” against the senator that span from 2017 to 2025.
“These allegations all concern his behaviour in the presence of women,” the authors wrote, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are aware of multiple women who have taken up roles or volunteered in the party, who because of these allegations, have been warned not to … be alone with him.”
Shit, I was hoping that’d be limited to ON & LNP. It seems to be a prerequisite to be hired by them at least.
Divine Angel said:
Why can’t guys just, not be dicks?
The Greens say WA senator Jordon Steele-John has taken leave from the party room following reports he made inappropriate comments towards women.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that a letter from seven party members was sent to Greens leader David Shoebridge on Tuesday night.
The letter states the group has been made aware of “multiple allegations” against the senator that span from 2017 to 2025.
“These allegations all concern his behaviour in the presence of women,” the authors wrote, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are aware of multiple women who have taken up roles or volunteered in the party, who because of these allegations, have been warned not to … be alone with him.”
we suspect that being an arsehole doesn’t discriminate, though we don’t know the specifics of this case so we merely comment generally
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:
Arts said:
Divine Angel said:
You’ll need to remove a paywall to read the full story but
Never did an answer to my email to this jerk about why he hates education.
I mean goodness forbid that people who keep the country safe, healthy, and educated actualy also have rights.
wait but he loves education that’s why he doesn’t want teachers to stop their jobs for even a moment
What about doctors?
Nurses get ordered back to work, but doctors can chuck all the tanties they like?
don’t know we’ve never worked as a nurse or a doctor in qld but we thought the solution was always the same if they don’t like it then they can just leave
topical and not the same state but how awesome
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-15/prince-of-wales-hospital-man-set-alight/107270258
Spiny Norman said:
Divine Angel said:
Why can’t guys just, not be dicks?https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-15/greens-jordon-steele-john-alleged-inappropriate-comments/107270620
The Greens say WA senator Jordon Steele-John has taken leave from the party room following reports he made inappropriate comments towards women.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that a letter from seven party members was sent to Greens leader David Shoebridge on Tuesday night.
The letter states the group has been made aware of “multiple allegations” against the senator that span from 2017 to 2025.
“These allegations all concern his behaviour in the presence of women,” the authors wrote, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are aware of multiple women who have taken up roles or volunteered in the party, who because of these allegations, have been warned not to … be alone with him.”
Shit, I was hoping that’d be limited to ON & LNP. It seems to be a prerequisite to be hired by them at least.
Skeptic Pete’s fb
Labor have just lost my vote and earned my absolute contempt.
Along with the LNP and One Hanson party they just voted against Lydia Thorpe’s bills to ban the shackling of women giving birth in custody (usually indigenous women), and the strip searching of children at music festivals.
This is on top of their unwavering and unconditional support of Israel, and their refusal to speak out against the Trump administration.
If we can’t be better than the USA with their cruelty and racism, then we are doomed to fail as a civilised society.
Shame on them all.
Divine Angel said:
Spiny Norman said:
Divine Angel said:
Why can’t guys just, not be dicks?https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-15/greens-jordon-steele-john-alleged-inappropriate-comments/107270620
The Greens say WA senator Jordon Steele-John has taken leave from the party room following reports he made inappropriate comments towards women.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that a letter from seven party members was sent to Greens leader David Shoebridge on Tuesday night.
The letter states the group has been made aware of “multiple allegations” against the senator that span from 2017 to 2025.
“These allegations all concern his behaviour in the presence of women,” the authors wrote, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are aware of multiple women who have taken up roles or volunteered in the party, who because of these allegations, have been warned not to … be alone with him.”
Shit, I was hoping that’d be limited to ON & LNP. It seems to be a prerequisite to be hired by them at least.
Skeptic Pete’s fb
Labor have just lost my vote and earned my absolute contempt.
Along with the LNP and One Hanson party they just voted against Lydia Thorpe’s bills to ban the shackling of women giving birth in custody (usually indigenous women), and the strip searching of children at music festivals.
This is on top of their unwavering and unconditional support of Israel, and their refusal to speak out against the Trump administration.
If we can’t be better than the USA with their cruelty and racism, then we are doomed to fail as a civilised society.
Shame on them all.
Did he still want the right to climb Uluru?
Witty Rejoinder said:
Divine Angel said:
Spiny Norman said:Shit, I was hoping that’d be limited to ON & LNP. It seems to be a prerequisite to be hired by them at least.
Skeptic Pete’s fb
Labor have just lost my vote and earned my absolute contempt.
Along with the LNP and One Hanson party they just voted against Lydia Thorpe’s bills to ban the shackling of women giving birth in custody (usually indigenous women), and the strip searching of children at music festivals.
This is on top of their unwavering and unconditional support of Israel, and their refusal to speak out against the Trump administration.
If we can’t be better than the USA with their cruelty and racism, then we are doomed to fail as a civilised society.
Shame on them all.
Did he still want the right to climb Uluru?
Did=Does
Brethren a controlling sect, not a religion, former and current members say
Michael Bachelard and Sherryn Groch
October 14, 2026
Lindy Jacomb was a naive 20-year-old member of the Exclusive Brethren, living at home with her family, when spiritual curiosity got the better of her.
So she wrote to her church’s global leader, the “Man of God”, Bruce Hales, and other elders, asking why she should stay in a sect whose teachings she’d begun to doubt.
“The aim of this letter is to summarise my questions and issues about the EB, ,” Jacomb wrote to Hales in 2008. “It is an appeal for increased understanding.”
Why are we “so extreme” in shunning others, she asked, so that even excommunicated family members are treated as if they’ve died? Why do we insist we are the “one divinely accredited” church? Why is Hales considered infallible? Why must we only work for Brethren-owned companies? Why can’t we have pets?”
Jacomb got no answers, so left the church and was later excommunicated. Under orders from Hales, her parents cut off all contact with her. Her five siblings became strangers and she lost her job. Her friends spurned her and she was barred from going to church.
“It’s like jumping out of a plane into a pitch-black hole,” Jacomb says 18 years later. “You’re going into a terrifying and different world … a world you’ve been taught since birth to fear and hate.”
Six years later, Jacomb’s brother, Braden Simmons, emailed her with qualms of his own, but his messages were surveilled by his Brethren boss. Hales later preached to his global flock that Simmons should kill himself with poison, and the church – now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, or PBCC – excommunicated Simmons too.
On Friday, Bruce Hales will appear before a joint standing committee of parliament and insist that his is a mainstream religion.
The committee will quiz him about the Brethren’s secretive involvement in the last federal election campaign and its members’ activism on polling booths as well as alleged payments made to neo-Nazi affiliates and far-right figures to disrupt the prime minister’s events.
He’ll be asked if he egged the campaign on with a statement to his flock that “Australia needed to be happy again, smiling again” – a statement followed by webinars conducted by his sons and played on repeat to activate the faithful, then later translated into a slogan on the campaign trail.
Hales will, judging by his submission published on Wednesday, deny all this when he appears before the committee.
He will not swear on the Bible – Brethren never do – but he will insist that his flock acted of their own free will, and that, like in a normal church, he as leader cannot be held accountable for the self-motivated actions of his parishioners.
“I had no involvement in any members volunteering for any political party and was not aware this occurred until reporting appeared in the newspapers,” Hales told the committee in his submission.
Church insiders speaking out for the first time, as well as those who have left Hales’ religion and felt the lash of its punishments, disagree.
“There is no way that level of organisation can happen within the PBCC on any topic without it being organised by Bruce and the boys,” wrote one insider, insisting on anonymity to protect their safety and that of their family. “If anyone attempted this … they would be shut down immediately.”
“We are confident,” wrote a group of 12 shunned members, including Simmons, in a letter to the committee this week, “that the genesis of the observed activities lay in a personal decision of Mr Bruce Hales. However, because of the unique doctrinal framework of the PBCC, any regulator seeking to construct an evidence-based response … faces unique challenges.”
Salted throughout Hales’ published ministry to his flock are references to authority, obedience and the danger of independent thought.
“Independence has no place – you can’t talk about independence because it’s not allowed for … get rid of it in your youth,” Hales preached in Leeds in 2011. “The idea of absolute authority is vested in the assembly … we have to submit to it so that no one, no one is greater than the assembly,” he said in 2004.
The Brethren assembly, he preaches, is all-encompassing: “The house of God would involve our whole lives … you can’t take one part of your life, and say, ‘That’s something different from what I am in the assembly,’ ” he said in 2010.
“The overriding thing I would say is that you’ve got a system for everything.”
Jacomb says these doctrines are pummelled into Brethren members from birth. After she was ejected, Jacomb became for a time a Baptist pastor. She now runs a charity called Olive Leaf Network that helps people escaping from high-demand organisations – what were formerly known as cults. She also helps people still trapped inside it because they fear the human cost of leaving.
“This is not about mainstream Christianity,” Jacomb says. “This group does not fit that category. Yes, people have a right to practise their religion, but they also should have the freedom to leave their religion if they want and not suffer harm, physical, mental, psychological, spiritual in doing so.”
She says the PBCC restricts where its members live, their education, travel, social connections, sexual life (all marriages are approved by Hales), and employment. It sucks huge financial resources, under pressure of social isolation, out of its members and their businesses to fund its “ecosystem” of global “charities” and investment funds.
“They might look like lovely white-collar businessmen who are upstanding citizens and living in quiet suburban homes, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t serious levels of coercive control going on,” Jacomb said. “It’s very challenging to wake society up that this can be a reality.”
It’s all enforced by the threat of shunning, and losing everyone you love.
Jacomb says the church’s spokesman, Lloyd Grimshaw, belled the cat on shunning when he gave evidence at the committee in August. Asked if church members voted, Grimshaw said they had not traditionally but that “it was never a test of fellowship”. His words suggest other matters are.
A test of fellowship, said Jacomb, was “an action taken that means you would be excommunicated because it was not aligned with the church’s doctrine”.
Asked about this, Grimshaw told this masthead, “Where an individual chooses to live outside the principles of our faith, they may, as a last resort, be ‘withdrawn from’.
“Comparable practices exist in many faiths, including excommunication in the Catholic Church. Singling out one church for practices shared by many is not fair reporting. We ask that our members be treated with the same respect afforded to any other faith community.”
Jacomb’s excommunication made her persona-non-grata including with her own family. So when she started emailing her brother Braden Simmons in 2014, and his Brethren boss read those emails and informed the church elders, Simmons too was punished for breaching the “doctrine of separation”.
The following year, Hales took to the pulpit. Simmons’ contact with “opposers” – his sister – was “rotten poison”, he preached.
“He might as well get a shot of … arsenic. How do you get arsenic into you?” Hales asked his flock. “He’d be better to take arsenic, or go and get some rat poison or something, take a bottle of it.
“That would be better, to finish yourself off that way than having to do with the opponents of the truth.”
After Hales’ comments were printed and distributed globally to the 56,000-strong Brethren flock, Simmons says, “People treated me with kid gloves. I think they worried I was a mass murderer, that if they spoke to me I might cut their head off … You’re left with this enormous, quite bizarre stigma.”
Simmons insisted on meeting Hales face-to-face. When he did, he found the spiritual leader had nothing useful to say to him. In conversations with his friends, Simmons strongly criticised Hales.
“It took me 48 hours to get shunned.”
On Friday, the electoral matters committee will ask hard questions of Hales – unprecedented for a man who for decades has answered only the inquiries of his own acolytes. He tried to get out of the grilling but failed.
At stake is not just his church’s reputation, but millions of dollars in tax exemptions.
Charities in Australia are prohibited from campaigning for political parties, and Hales’ church runs a dozen charities with hundreds of millions in assets. Research in the UK reveals the Brethren use these riches almost entirely for their own benefit. A finding that the church was involved in electioneering could seriously imperil these generous concessions.
A number of right-wing groups have leapt to Hales’ defence. Holding him to account is a threat to religious freedom, they say.
Turning Point USA, the controversial US right-wing organisation, called on the Trump government to lobby Australia over Hales’ questioning, with pastor Lucas Miles worried that, “If this approach succeeds against one church, it becomes a precedent of intimidation for all”.
The Coalition members of the committee have labelled Hales’ grilling a “witch-hunt”. The Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Michael Stead, and his organisation, Freedom for Faith, say the Brethren is a simple “mainstream Christian denomination”, whose members “have as much right as any other Australian to participate in the electoral process”.
“Religious leaders (are not) automatically responsible for the political choices, associations or conduct” of their members, Freedom for Faith told members of the committee in an email. (Neither they nor the Coalition responded to recent questions about Hales’ long history of antisemitic comments.)
Experts who know the Brethren better say these defences are wrong-headed. The Reverend Tim Costello, a senior fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity and former president of the Baptist Union of Australia, said Hales’ church “regard the rest of us Christians as so unfaithful that they will not worship, fellowship or even eat or drink with us. And the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren break up families … this is not freedom of conscience or freedom of religion.”
International expert on religious sects Steve Hassan said freedom of religion also meant the freedom to leave without reprisal. Groups with harsh practices such as the Brethren, he said, had become adept at “hiding in plain sight”.
The alleged stunts organised by the Brethren with neo-Nazi associates were “straight out of the MAGA playbook”, Hassan said, and part of a growing trend of “authoritarian cults pushing extremist agendas and mixing with the far-right”.
Extremism expert Josh Roose has called for the Brethren’s alleged use of neo-Nazi associates to tail and heckle politicians on the campaign trail to be investigated, and teal donor Climate 200 has referred the church to the charity regulator for investigation.
—
In comments to The Australian this week, Hales said, “The truth will prevail”. A group of 12 former church members, including Simmons, hope so.
Two signatories to the letter have already given evidence to the electoral matters committee. Ben Woodbury agreed everyone should have the right to support a political party, but, “the level of coercion behind it … isn’t accounted for”. Cassie Davies said, “this was not typical individual political participation; it was structured and directed”.
In their letter this week, the group wrote there was no chance Hales’ sons and their acolytes brought thousands of Brethren members together to campaign without his assent. This was a church endeavour, they say, and the fate of one young Brethren man proves it.
The man, whom this masthead has chosen not to name to protect his privacy, was in Australia from the United Kingdom last year and was involved on the Brethren campaign trail. Shocked at what he was hearing, he secretly recorded a co-ordinating meeting, then leaked the audio to former church members. The recording found its way to this masthead.
The man was immediately put on a flight back to England, where his local priests passed an assembly judgment to have him kicked out of his family home and separated from his parents. He told this masthead at the time this was “because of the audio I recorded”. Church elders called him a “traitor”.
Eighteen months later, the ex-members say in their letter, the young man is still living in a small caravan in his parents’ backyard. He has limited contact with them or anyone else.
The former members ask if this man’s transgression was election-related and, if the election had nothing to do with the church, why he is being punished under church religious law.
“The PBCC continues to hold him in that position today,” the ex-members wrote, “even as it proclaims no involvement in the activities he revealed.”
Asked about this, the church spokesman provided no answer.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/brethren-a-controlling-sect-not-a-religion-say-former-and-current-members-20261014-p615e8.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
Brethren a controlling sect, not a religion, former and current members say
Michael Bachelard and Sherryn Groch
October 14, 2026Lindy Jacomb was a naive 20-year-old member of the Exclusive Brethren, living at home with her family, when spiritual curiosity got the better of her.
So she wrote to her church’s global leader, the “Man of God”, Bruce Hales, and other elders, asking why she should stay in a sect whose teachings she’d begun to doubt.
“The aim of this letter is to summarise my questions and issues about the EB, ,” Jacomb wrote to Hales in 2008. “It is an appeal for increased understanding.”
Why are we “so extreme” in shunning others, she asked, so that even excommunicated family members are treated as if they’ve died? Why do we insist we are the “one divinely accredited” church? Why is Hales considered infallible? Why must we only work for Brethren-owned companies? Why can’t we have pets?”
Jacomb got no answers, so left the church and was later excommunicated. Under orders from Hales, her parents cut off all contact with her. Her five siblings became strangers and she lost her job. Her friends spurned her and she was barred from going to church.
“It’s like jumping out of a plane into a pitch-black hole,” Jacomb says 18 years later. “You’re going into a terrifying and different world … a world you’ve been taught since birth to fear and hate.”
Six years later, Jacomb’s brother, Braden Simmons, emailed her with qualms of his own, but his messages were surveilled by his Brethren boss. Hales later preached to his global flock that Simmons should kill himself with poison, and the church – now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, or PBCC – excommunicated Simmons too.
On Friday, Bruce Hales will appear before a joint standing committee of parliament and insist that his is a mainstream religion.
The committee will quiz him about the Brethren’s secretive involvement in the last federal election campaign and its members’ activism on polling booths as well as alleged payments made to neo-Nazi affiliates and far-right figures to disrupt the prime minister’s events.
He’ll be asked if he egged the campaign on with a statement to his flock that “Australia needed to be happy again, smiling again” – a statement followed by webinars conducted by his sons and played on repeat to activate the faithful, then later translated into a slogan on the campaign trail.
Hales will, judging by his submission published on Wednesday, deny all this when he appears before the committee.
He will not swear on the Bible – Brethren never do – but he will insist that his flock acted of their own free will, and that, like in a normal church, he as leader cannot be held accountable for the self-motivated actions of his parishioners.
“I had no involvement in any members volunteering for any political party and was not aware this occurred until reporting appeared in the newspapers,” Hales told the committee in his submission.
Church insiders speaking out for the first time, as well as those who have left Hales’ religion and felt the lash of its punishments, disagree.
“There is no way that level of organisation can happen within the PBCC on any topic without it being organised by Bruce and the boys,” wrote one insider, insisting on anonymity to protect their safety and that of their family. “If anyone attempted this … they would be shut down immediately.”
“We are confident,” wrote a group of 12 shunned members, including Simmons, in a letter to the committee this week, “that the genesis of the observed activities lay in a personal decision of Mr Bruce Hales. However, because of the unique doctrinal framework of the PBCC, any regulator seeking to construct an evidence-based response … faces unique challenges.”
Salted throughout Hales’ published ministry to his flock are references to authority, obedience and the danger of independent thought.
“Independence has no place – you can’t talk about independence because it’s not allowed for … get rid of it in your youth,” Hales preached in Leeds in 2011. “The idea of absolute authority is vested in the assembly … we have to submit to it so that no one, no one is greater than the assembly,” he said in 2004.
The Brethren assembly, he preaches, is all-encompassing: “The house of God would involve our whole lives … you can’t take one part of your life, and say, ‘That’s something different from what I am in the assembly,’ ” he said in 2010.
“The overriding thing I would say is that you’ve got a system for everything.”
Jacomb says these doctrines are pummelled into Brethren members from birth. After she was ejected, Jacomb became for a time a Baptist pastor. She now runs a charity called Olive Leaf Network that helps people escaping from high-demand organisations – what were formerly known as cults. She also helps people still trapped inside it because they fear the human cost of leaving.
“This is not about mainstream Christianity,” Jacomb says. “This group does not fit that category. Yes, people have a right to practise their religion, but they also should have the freedom to leave their religion if they want and not suffer harm, physical, mental, psychological, spiritual in doing so.”
She says the PBCC restricts where its members live, their education, travel, social connections, sexual life (all marriages are approved by Hales), and employment. It sucks huge financial resources, under pressure of social isolation, out of its members and their businesses to fund its “ecosystem” of global “charities” and investment funds.
“They might look like lovely white-collar businessmen who are upstanding citizens and living in quiet suburban homes, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t serious levels of coercive control going on,” Jacomb said. “It’s very challenging to wake society up that this can be a reality.”
It’s all enforced by the threat of shunning, and losing everyone you love.
Jacomb says the church’s spokesman, Lloyd Grimshaw, belled the cat on shunning when he gave evidence at the committee in August. Asked if church members voted, Grimshaw said they had not traditionally but that “it was never a test of fellowship”. His words suggest other matters are.
A test of fellowship, said Jacomb, was “an action taken that means you would be excommunicated because it was not aligned with the church’s doctrine”.
Asked about this, Grimshaw told this masthead, “Where an individual chooses to live outside the principles of our faith, they may, as a last resort, be ‘withdrawn from’.
“Comparable practices exist in many faiths, including excommunication in the Catholic Church. Singling out one church for practices shared by many is not fair reporting. We ask that our members be treated with the same respect afforded to any other faith community.”
Jacomb’s excommunication made her persona-non-grata including with her own family. So when she started emailing her brother Braden Simmons in 2014, and his Brethren boss read those emails and informed the church elders, Simmons too was punished for breaching the “doctrine of separation”.
The following year, Hales took to the pulpit. Simmons’ contact with “opposers” – his sister – was “rotten poison”, he preached.
“He might as well get a shot of … arsenic. How do you get arsenic into you?” Hales asked his flock. “He’d be better to take arsenic, or go and get some rat poison or something, take a bottle of it.
“That would be better, to finish yourself off that way than having to do with the opponents of the truth.”
After Hales’ comments were printed and distributed globally to the 56,000-strong Brethren flock, Simmons says, “People treated me with kid gloves. I think they worried I was a mass murderer, that if they spoke to me I might cut their head off … You’re left with this enormous, quite bizarre stigma.”
Simmons insisted on meeting Hales face-to-face. When he did, he found the spiritual leader had nothing useful to say to him. In conversations with his friends, Simmons strongly criticised Hales.
“It took me 48 hours to get shunned.”
On Friday, the electoral matters committee will ask hard questions of Hales – unprecedented for a man who for decades has answered only the inquiries of his own acolytes. He tried to get out of the grilling but failed.
At stake is not just his church’s reputation, but millions of dollars in tax exemptions.
Charities in Australia are prohibited from campaigning for political parties, and Hales’ church runs a dozen charities with hundreds of millions in assets. Research in the UK reveals the Brethren use these riches almost entirely for their own benefit. A finding that the church was involved in electioneering could seriously imperil these generous concessions.
A number of right-wing groups have leapt to Hales’ defence. Holding him to account is a threat to religious freedom, they say.
Turning Point USA, the controversial US right-wing organisation, called on the Trump government to lobby Australia over Hales’ questioning, with pastor Lucas Miles worried that, “If this approach succeeds against one church, it becomes a precedent of intimidation for all”.
The Coalition members of the committee have labelled Hales’ grilling a “witch-hunt”. The Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Michael Stead, and his organisation, Freedom for Faith, say the Brethren is a simple “mainstream Christian denomination”, whose members “have as much right as any other Australian to participate in the electoral process”.
“Religious leaders (are not) automatically responsible for the political choices, associations or conduct” of their members, Freedom for Faith told members of the committee in an email. (Neither they nor the Coalition responded to recent questions about Hales’ long history of antisemitic comments.)
Experts who know the Brethren better say these defences are wrong-headed. The Reverend Tim Costello, a senior fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity and former president of the Baptist Union of Australia, said Hales’ church “regard the rest of us Christians as so unfaithful that they will not worship, fellowship or even eat or drink with us. And the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren break up families … this is not freedom of conscience or freedom of religion.”
International expert on religious sects Steve Hassan said freedom of religion also meant the freedom to leave without reprisal. Groups with harsh practices such as the Brethren, he said, had become adept at “hiding in plain sight”.
The alleged stunts organised by the Brethren with neo-Nazi associates were “straight out of the MAGA playbook”, Hassan said, and part of a growing trend of “authoritarian cults pushing extremist agendas and mixing with the far-right”.
Extremism expert Josh Roose has called for the Brethren’s alleged use of neo-Nazi associates to tail and heckle politicians on the campaign trail to be investigated, and teal donor Climate 200 has referred the church to the charity regulator for investigation.
—
In comments to The Australian this week, Hales said, “The truth will prevail”. A group of 12 former church members, including Simmons, hope so.
Two signatories to the letter have already given evidence to the electoral matters committee. Ben Woodbury agreed everyone should have the right to support a political party, but, “the level of coercion behind it … isn’t accounted for”. Cassie Davies said, “this was not typical individual political participation; it was structured and directed”.
In their letter this week, the group wrote there was no chance Hales’ sons and their acolytes brought thousands of Brethren members together to campaign without his assent. This was a church endeavour, they say, and the fate of one young Brethren man proves it.
The man, whom this masthead has chosen not to name to protect his privacy, was in Australia from the United Kingdom last year and was involved on the Brethren campaign trail. Shocked at what he was hearing, he secretly recorded a co-ordinating meeting, then leaked the audio to former church members. The recording found its way to this masthead.
The man was immediately put on a flight back to England, where his local priests passed an assembly judgment to have him kicked out of his family home and separated from his parents. He told this masthead at the time this was “because of the audio I recorded”. Church elders called him a “traitor”.
Eighteen months later, the ex-members say in their letter, the young man is still living in a small caravan in his parents’ backyard. He has limited contact with them or anyone else.
The former members ask if this man’s transgression was election-related and, if the election had nothing to do with the church, why he is being punished under church religious law.
“The PBCC continues to hold him in that position today,” the ex-members wrote, “even as it proclaims no involvement in the activities he revealed.”
Asked about this, the church spokesman provided no answer.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/brethren-a-controlling-sect-not-a-religion-say-former-and-current-members-20261014-p615e8.html
I know it’s very un-PC in these woke times, but there’s a group I’d like to see rounded up and sold as slaves.
“a controlling sect, not a religion..”
Well… those are the same thing already?
well that makes it all right then
Greven Breadsell told police he had found the skull in 1974 at McGregor Creek near Mirani, about 40 kilometres from where Marilyn went missing two years earlier. Mr Breadsell said police questioned him about the skull in 1974 after he had taken it to a pub. “I don’t like to say this, but we took it over to the pub and used it as an ashtray one night,” he said. “Made me feel a bit shitty when we found out it was hers and we were mucking around with it.”
In the video played to the court, Mr Breadsell showed police where he saw the top part of a skull lying on grass in a cattle paddock, near an illegal dump site. He said he initially thought what he found was an Aboriginal person’s remains. “Who else’s skull would it be?” Mr Breadsell said. “I had it at the shed there for at least a fortnight or three weeks.”
only some skulls are of the proper quality to be used as ashtrays
becklefreckle said:
“a controlling sect, not a religion..”Well… those are the same thing already?
I think the former is a subset of the latter.
I could do a Venn Diagram…
party_pants said:
becklefreckle said:
“a controlling sect, not a religion..”Well… those are the same thing already?
I think the former is a subset of the latter.
I could do a Venn Diagram…
Agreed – not all religions are controlling, but they are the exceptions. They’re the ones doing public relations work for the rest.
becklefreckle said:
party_pants said:
becklefreckle said:
“a controlling sect, not a religion..”
Well… those are the same thing already?
I think the former is a subset of the latter.
I could do a Venn Diagram…
Agreed – not all religions are controlling, but they are the exceptions. They’re the ones doing public relations work for the rest.
^
so the set difference approaches zero
(and there was that discussion about good advice still being a form of disinformation back before)
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
What about doctors?
Nurses get ordered back to work, but doctors can chuck all the tanties they like?
don’t know we’ve never worked as a nurse or a doctor in qld but we thought the solution was always the same if they don’t like it then they can just leave
topical and not the same state but how awesome
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-15/prince-of-wales-hospital-man-set-alight/107270258
stopping nurses from striking would have prevented this
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-15/queensland-patient-deaths-review/107272588
jesus fucking ridiculousness what a bunch of words to skirt around the idea that
rising inequality is shit but capitalism must be good
without saying the words
Divine Angel said:
Spiny Norman said:
Divine Angel said:
Why can’t guys just, not be dicks?https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-15/greens-jordon-steele-john-alleged-inappropriate-comments/107270620
The Greens say WA senator Jordon Steele-John has taken leave from the party room following reports he made inappropriate comments towards women.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that a letter from seven party members was sent to Greens leader David Shoebridge on Tuesday night.
The letter states the group has been made aware of “multiple allegations” against the senator that span from 2017 to 2025.
“These allegations all concern his behaviour in the presence of women,” the authors wrote, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are aware of multiple women who have taken up roles or volunteered in the party, who because of these allegations, have been warned not to … be alone with him.”
Shit, I was hoping that’d be limited to ON & LNP. It seems to be a prerequisite to be hired by them at least.
Skeptic Pete’s fb
Labor have just lost my vote and earned my absolute contempt.
Along with the LNP and One Hanson party they just voted against Lydia Thorpe’s bills to ban the shackling of women giving birth in custody (usually indigenous women), and the strip searching of children at music festivals.
This is on top of their unwavering and unconditional support of Israel, and their refusal to speak out against the Trump administration.
If we can’t be better than the USA with their cruelty and racism, then we are doomed to fail as a civilised society.
Shame on them all.
It is disgusting and shame on them all.
ms spock said:
Divine Angel said:
Spiny Norman said:Shit, I was hoping that’d be limited to ON & LNP. It seems to be a prerequisite to be hired by them at least.
Skeptic Pete’s fb
Labor have just lost my vote and earned my absolute contempt.
Along with the LNP and One Hanson party they just voted against Lydia Thorpe’s bills to ban the shackling of women giving birth in custody (usually indigenous women), and the strip searching of children at music festivals.
This is on top of their unwavering and unconditional support of Israel, and their refusal to speak out against the Trump administration.
If we can’t be better than the USA with their cruelty and racism, then we are doomed to fail as a civilised society.
Shame on them all.
It is disgusting and shame on them all.
!!!
Ian said:
:)
Australians spend more money per capita on education than most comparable nations. We should have high levels of literacy – but we don’t.
NAPLAN results indicate one in three primary and secondary students do not meet basic national standards in reading and writing. The picture is likely worse for adults.
The most recent data we have is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 2013 survey assessing adult competencies. It found 44% of Australian adults have literacy skills below the “necessary proficiency level for navigating modern work and life”. In other words, they were functionally illiterate.
https://theconversation.com/more-than-1-in-3-australian-adults-are-functionally-illiterate-how-can-we-fix-this-277375
Divine Angel said:
Australians spend more money per capita on education than most comparable nations. We should have high levels of literacy – but we don’t.
NAPLAN results indicate one in three primary and secondary students do not meet basic national standards in reading and writing. The picture is likely worse for adults.
The most recent data we have is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 2013 survey assessing adult competencies. It found 44% of Australian adults have literacy skills below the “necessary proficiency level for navigating modern work and life”. In other words, they were functionally illiterate.
so
Secondary schools have traditionally been designed to teach subjects such as English or English literature on the assumption students who arrive will already be literate.
their entire article can be summarised as
schools shouldn’t teach students to run before they can walk
Queensland’s LNP has trodden softly in government. It’s now baring its teeth over the power to break up workers’ strikes
For almost two years, the Liberal National party’s strategy for government in Queensland has been to stay well clear of issues that risk burning through political capital.
On Wednesday, one of the most tentative conservative governments in recent history announced plans for sweeping and controversial changes to workplace laws.
In doing so, the LNP risks placing large sections of its suburban support – critical to the party’s lead in the polls – on the bonfire.
The proposals would give the increasingly influential deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, the power to break strikes by public-sector workers in certain circumstances, including if it is deemed “in the public interest”.
The government will also make it more difficult for public servants, including emergency services workers, to claim compensation for psychological injuries. Under the proposed laws, workers with such claims will only be entitled to support if they can show their workplace was the primary cause.
Law firm Slater and Gordon said the changes would make it harder for Queenslanders to access support for psychological injuries. The United Workers Union, which represents paramedics and some healthcare workers, said the changes were “an underhanded attack on Queensland ambulance officers and other hospital staff”.
Several business groups welcomed the changes.
The opposition leader, Steven Miles, said on Thursday morning the proposals were a “Newman-era attack on workers”, and the only thing surprising about that statement was that it took so long (roughly 14 hours) for the spectre of Campbell Newman’s government to, once again, loom over Queensland politics.
How to kill a story: The secret dossier the Greens used to protect Steele-John
James Massola
Updated October 16, 2026 — 2:55pm,first published 2:34pm
The Greens created and maintained a secret dossier that catalogued allegations against Senator Jordon Steele-John and set out ways to shut down media coverage and monitor members who raised concerns on social media.
The crisis communications strategy obtained by this masthead reveals that as far back as 2016, before Steele-John was parachuted into the Senate in 2017, the party was managing complaints. The document reveals that one senior Greens official quit her role because Steele-John was reinstated as the WA branch’s volunteer co-ordinator, even though two women had lodged complaints alleging Steele-John had made inappropriate remarks while working with them.
The 47-page dossier, stored on a Google Drive folder accessible to Western Australian Greens and national Greens staff for close to a decade, was first drafted in 2016 and has been updated in the years since. It sets out ways to shut down media coverage of allegations about Steele-John, while also instructing taxpayer-funded Greens staff to monitor social media discussions and take screenshots of comments posted by party members.
This masthead has confirmed with four former Greens staffers that the dossier was real and that it was used by the WA Greens and the national leader’s office to manage stories about Steele-John.
Steele-John on Thursday took leave from the Greens party room after leader David Shoebridge received a letter from seven active Greens members demanding an independent investigation into allegations from party members that the WA senator made multiple inappropriate comments to women over the past decade.
The senator referred the matter to the WA Greens for an independent investigation, while rejecting the allegations.
“I utterly reject this characterisation of me, which tries to assert I am someone I am not,” Steele-John said in a statement provided to this masthead.
“These claims are made without specifics, any allegation of this nature is extremely serious and must be treated accordingly. If someone has made an allegation, I am prepared to address it.”
On Friday morning, Shoebridge confirmed Steele-John would take a leave of absence from parliament during the investigation.
The resignation
In an email sent to WA Greens members on July 29, 2017, Sarah Nielsen-Harvey – then a party co-convener – announced that she was resigning after less than a year in the job, saying she wanted to focus on her university studies. Co-conveners are administrators who oversee the party’s governance and provide day-to-day management and co-ordination.
The letter contained an oblique reference to turmoil inside the WA branch: “There are also a few things that over this year that have manifested in behaviour and culture that I cannot in good conscience continue being involved with right now”.
Five days later on August 3, the independent website True Crime News Weekly published a story about allegations made against Steele-John by two volunteers, whose names this masthead has chosen not to publish. The story alleged that Steele-John, who was not yet a senator, had been accused of making inappropriate comments by “at least two young female members of the Greens in Western Australia”.
Eventually, the two women decided not to pursue the complaint and, as the crisis communications dossier makes clear, a form of words was agreed: the two women had had a “dispute of an interpersonal nature” with Steele-John but had decided to leave it there.
The real reason she resigned
However, the dossier includes a follow-up email sent on August 17, 2017 to senior party office bearers, including former state Greens leader Elizabeth “Giz” Watson and co-convener Grahame Bowland, in which Nielsen-Harvey made clear the real reason she had quit the party.
“I would just like to clear up a few things after receiving accusations that I am ‘about to wreck the good reputation of the Greens’. I am incredibly hurt by this and it is an unfair allegation,” she began. “I could have included my concerns of … allegations in my resignation email. I did not.”
She then detailed contact with journalists, including at Junkee, True Crime News Weekly and The Australian, about her resignation and the allegations against Steele-John, but states that she had not assisted any of the journalists.
“I would like to know where along this journey, since this time last year, it is me ruining the good reputation of the Greens,” Nielsen-Harvey wrote.
“I am not the one allegations were levelled at. I am not the one who, after being made aware of the allegations, decided to still dismiss member involvement in choosing their senator, despite the very real risk that these allegations could very well come up and jeopardise retaining our Senate spot on this rotation. I am not the one who has chased down and tipped off journalists.
“I am not the one trying to silence members into not talking about this at all. The bullying that has happened since Jordon’s decision to accept the role has astounded me. Never have I felt unsafe to go to a Greens meeting or office. Thanks.”
In a separate post to a private Facebook group on August 4, Nielsen-Harvey wrote that she was “disgusted” by the Greens’ decision to re-employ Steele-John as volunteers co-ordinator in the lead up to the 2017 WA state election, when the party was aware of the allegations against him.
Nielsen-Harvey remains a member of the Greens, but holds no administrative or elected positions.
Watson, a former leader of the party in state parliament and now a co-convenor of the WA Greens with Simone Collins, said on Thursday the branch was supporting the commission of an independent inquiry into Steele-John.
In November 2017, Steele-John was parachuted into the federal Senate when former WA Senator Scott Ludlam was disqualified because he held dual citizenship. Steele-John has since made a name for himself as the party’s chief spokesman on the NDIS and mental health. He has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and has advocated for disability rights throughout his nine-year tenure in the Senate.
Monitoring Greens members
But the dossier contains more than the complaints of one former party co-convener.
It contains more than a dozen screenshots from a private Young Greens Facebook group, and from X, in which party members and supporters discuss the allegations made by the two women against Steele-John and the party’s handling of them.
Then state convenor Sophie Greer, who helped deal with the initial complaint from the two women, was required to “reach out to them” – Greens members – if they had posted something negative about the newly minted senator and to take screenshots when people discussed the allegations.
Greer is now Steele-John’s chief of staff and is a frontrunner to win the No.1 spot on the party’s Senate ticket ahead of the next election.
Under headings including “what is to be shared on background”, “potential initiators of media story”, “complaint received by the party” and “external management plan if story printed”, the dossier sets out how the party should kill the story.
Steele-John was to “undergo training with Will in case he was asked about the allegations.”
Kelly and Steele-John were instructed to “ensure RDN are provided with information”.
It adds that “Sophie & Tim to keep an eye on Australian Young Greens discussion group”.
Di Natale was contacted for comment, and subsequent former leaders Bandt and Waters. Steele-John, Shoebridge, Bowland, Watson, Nielsen-Harvey, Greer, Oliver and Kelly have also been contacted for comment.
A statement provided by Shoebridge’s office on Friday says: “This is not a document made by, used by, or seen by the Leader’s Office. The office is committed to having the matters comprehensively investigated with a fair, independent and timely process.
“Everyone deserves a safe workplace, and all complaints should be considered in a fair and robust process.”
In a statement from the WA Greens, current co-conveners Watson and Collins confirmed the authenticity of the leaked crisis communications manual.
“The Greens WA responded to allegations about Jordon Steele-John in 2016. The allegations were not substantiated and the named persons have never lodged a formal complaint,” they said.
“Reference has been made to an internal document that has been provided to the media. This document outlines the management of communications about this matter.”
The pair said that Greens WA support the commission of an independent inquiry and that they had no further comment.
The dossier provides “pivot responses” for Steele-John if he was asked about the allegations made against him in the True Crime News Weekly article. He was to issue the following statement: “The Greens take allegations like those in that article very seriously and the Party has never received a complaint of the nature outlined on that blog. I’d suggest you talk to The Party for more on that one”, and afterwards, alert Greer and Oliver.
Other scenarios are also war-gamed – such as Steele-John being asked about “Greens and Women”, “Young Greens not supporting Jordon” and Nielsen-Harvey’s decision to quit, with a stock response instructing journalists to seek more information from the WA head office of the party.
When a journalist calls
Page after page of screenshots show inquiries from at least five media outlets over the next three years following the story in True Crime News Weekly.
The journalists were provided with the stock responses set out in the crisis communications dossier, including that “the allegations were investigated by The Greens (WA). As The Greens (WA) had not received a complaint … they were only able to identify the individuals concerned as media outlets had their names.”
“The individuals identified had previously spoken to a Party Co-convenor for advice on handling a interpersonal conflict between themselves and Jordon Steele-John. This was of an interpersonal nature … Jordon has not behaved improperly.”
Who might leak?
In the section titled “potential initiators of media story”, senior party officials are assessed on the likelihood that they could assist journalists pursuing the story.
Nicole Harvey and Grahame Bowland, both former state co-conveners, were considered “unlikely” to assist in a story about Steele-John. “Nicole is unwilling to break the confidentiality of her conversation with the women,” the dossier states.
It goes on to say that “Grahame has a friendly relationship with one of the two women, and wouldn’t put them in a harmful situation. He also does not know details of what the two women brought to the Party”.
But former co-convener Nielsen-Harvey is listed as a potential risk to the party’s reputation because “Sarah has already written on AYG Discussion Group, personal Facebook page & spoken to journalists, none of these have landed articles”.
It goes on to state “Sarah is still a member of The Greens (WA) – Sophie or Chilla to attempt to call SNH” and warns “Do not put anything in writing to SNH in first instance”.
What Shoebridge knew
At a snap press conference on Thursday after this masthead revealed the letter, Shoebridge said he was not previously aware of the allegations reported by this masthead against Steele-John.
“No, I received the correspondence in my capacity as leader of the Australian Greens, and I’ve dealt with it with … urgency,” he said.
Asked in the press conference about the NSW Young Greens raising claims against Steele-John in 2018, Shoebridge said he had not known about this.
“I was in a different parliament,” he said. “I do not recall having any involvement at all in that, and I don’t think people would expect an upper-house MP in a state parliament to have any role in that.”
The Greens have previously faced questions about the transparency of their complaints handling.
Former leader Adam Bandt was briefed in 2021 on a series of scathing assessments of his party’s culture, leading him to order compulsory workplace training for all parliamentarians in the party, but his office still failed to stop a subsequent alleged culture of bullying in the office of then-Greens senator Dorinda Cox.
This was revealed by this masthead in 2024, after 20 staff left Cox’s office in just three years and several lodged formal complaints alleging a hostile culture.
Cox defected to Labor last year.
In 2021, Victorian Indigenous Aunty Geraldine Atkinson sought a formal apology from then-Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe over what she characterised as “a tirade of abuse” and later said she received no acknowledgment from Bandt.
In 2023, Thorpe quit the Greens, claiming she had been bullied and undermined by several of her party room colleagues and had lodged a written complaint about her treatment with Bandt and the parliament’s workplace misconduct support service.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/how-to-kill-a-story-the-secret-dossier-the-greens-used-to-protect-steele-john-20261016-p60xbe.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
How to kill a story: The secret dossier the Greens used to protect Steele-JohnJames Massola
Updated October 16, 2026 — 2:55pm,first published 2:34pmThe Greens created and maintained a secret dossier that catalogued allegations against Senator Jordon Steele-John and set out ways to shut down media coverage and monitor members who raised concerns on social media.
The crisis communications strategy obtained by this masthead reveals that as far back as 2016, before Steele-John was parachuted into the Senate in 2017, the party was managing complaints. The document reveals that one senior Greens official quit her role because Steele-John was reinstated as the WA branch’s volunteer co-ordinator, even though two women had lodged complaints alleging Steele-John had made inappropriate remarks while working with them.
The 47-page dossier, stored on a Google Drive folder accessible to Western Australian Greens and national Greens staff for close to a decade, was first drafted in 2016 and has been updated in the years since. It sets out ways to shut down media coverage of allegations about Steele-John, while also instructing taxpayer-funded Greens staff to monitor social media discussions and take screenshots of comments posted by party members.
This masthead has confirmed with four former Greens staffers that the dossier was real and that it was used by the WA Greens and the national leader’s office to manage stories about Steele-John.
Steele-John on Thursday took leave from the Greens party room after leader David Shoebridge received a letter from seven active Greens members demanding an independent investigation into allegations from party members that the WA senator made multiple inappropriate comments to women over the past decade.
The senator referred the matter to the WA Greens for an independent investigation, while rejecting the allegations.
“I utterly reject this characterisation of me, which tries to assert I am someone I am not,” Steele-John said in a statement provided to this masthead.
“These claims are made without specifics, any allegation of this nature is extremely serious and must be treated accordingly. If someone has made an allegation, I am prepared to address it.”
On Friday morning, Shoebridge confirmed Steele-John would take a leave of absence from parliament during the investigation.
The resignation
In an email sent to WA Greens members on July 29, 2017, Sarah Nielsen-Harvey – then a party co-convener – announced that she was resigning after less than a year in the job, saying she wanted to focus on her university studies. Co-conveners are administrators who oversee the party’s governance and provide day-to-day management and co-ordination.The letter contained an oblique reference to turmoil inside the WA branch: “There are also a few things that over this year that have manifested in behaviour and culture that I cannot in good conscience continue being involved with right now”.
Five days later on August 3, the independent website True Crime News Weekly published a story about allegations made against Steele-John by two volunteers, whose names this masthead has chosen not to publish. The story alleged that Steele-John, who was not yet a senator, had been accused of making inappropriate comments by “at least two young female members of the Greens in Western Australia”.
Eventually, the two women decided not to pursue the complaint and, as the crisis communications dossier makes clear, a form of words was agreed: the two women had had a “dispute of an interpersonal nature” with Steele-John but had decided to leave it there.
The real reason she resigned
However, the dossier includes a follow-up email sent on August 17, 2017 to senior party office bearers, including former state Greens leader Elizabeth “Giz” Watson and co-convener Grahame Bowland, in which Nielsen-Harvey made clear the real reason she had quit the party.“I would just like to clear up a few things after receiving accusations that I am ‘about to wreck the good reputation of the Greens’. I am incredibly hurt by this and it is an unfair allegation,” she began. “I could have included my concerns of … allegations in my resignation email. I did not.”
She then detailed contact with journalists, including at Junkee, True Crime News Weekly and The Australian, about her resignation and the allegations against Steele-John, but states that she had not assisted any of the journalists.
“I would like to know where along this journey, since this time last year, it is me ruining the good reputation of the Greens,” Nielsen-Harvey wrote.
“I am not the one allegations were levelled at. I am not the one who, after being made aware of the allegations, decided to still dismiss member involvement in choosing their senator, despite the very real risk that these allegations could very well come up and jeopardise retaining our Senate spot on this rotation. I am not the one who has chased down and tipped off journalists.
“I am not the one trying to silence members into not talking about this at all. The bullying that has happened since Jordon’s decision to accept the role has astounded me. Never have I felt unsafe to go to a Greens meeting or office. Thanks.”
In a separate post to a private Facebook group on August 4, Nielsen-Harvey wrote that she was “disgusted” by the Greens’ decision to re-employ Steele-John as volunteers co-ordinator in the lead up to the 2017 WA state election, when the party was aware of the allegations against him.
Nielsen-Harvey remains a member of the Greens, but holds no administrative or elected positions.
Watson, a former leader of the party in state parliament and now a co-convenor of the WA Greens with Simone Collins, said on Thursday the branch was supporting the commission of an independent inquiry into Steele-John.
In November 2017, Steele-John was parachuted into the federal Senate when former WA Senator Scott Ludlam was disqualified because he held dual citizenship. Steele-John has since made a name for himself as the party’s chief spokesman on the NDIS and mental health. He has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and has advocated for disability rights throughout his nine-year tenure in the Senate.
Monitoring Greens members
But the dossier contains more than the complaints of one former party co-convener.It contains more than a dozen screenshots from a private Young Greens Facebook group, and from X, in which party members and supporters discuss the allegations made by the two women against Steele-John and the party’s handling of them.
Then state convenor Sophie Greer, who helped deal with the initial complaint from the two women, was required to “reach out to them” – Greens members – if they had posted something negative about the newly minted senator and to take screenshots when people discussed the allegations.
Greer is now Steele-John’s chief of staff and is a frontrunner to win the No.1 spot on the party’s Senate ticket ahead of the next election.
Under headings including “what is to be shared on background”, “potential initiators of media story”, “complaint received by the party” and “external management plan if story printed”, the dossier sets out how the party should kill the story.
Steele-John was to “undergo training with Will in case he was asked about the allegations.”
Kelly and Steele-John were instructed to “ensure RDN are provided with information”.
It adds that “Sophie & Tim to keep an eye on Australian Young Greens discussion group”.
Di Natale was contacted for comment, and subsequent former leaders Bandt and Waters. Steele-John, Shoebridge, Bowland, Watson, Nielsen-Harvey, Greer, Oliver and Kelly have also been contacted for comment.
A statement provided by Shoebridge’s office on Friday says: “This is not a document made by, used by, or seen by the Leader’s Office. The office is committed to having the matters comprehensively investigated with a fair, independent and timely process.
“Everyone deserves a safe workplace, and all complaints should be considered in a fair and robust process.”
In a statement from the WA Greens, current co-conveners Watson and Collins confirmed the authenticity of the leaked crisis communications manual.
“The Greens WA responded to allegations about Jordon Steele-John in 2016. The allegations were not substantiated and the named persons have never lodged a formal complaint,” they said.
“Reference has been made to an internal document that has been provided to the media. This document outlines the management of communications about this matter.”
The pair said that Greens WA support the commission of an independent inquiry and that they had no further comment.
The dossier provides “pivot responses” for Steele-John if he was asked about the allegations made against him in the True Crime News Weekly article. He was to issue the following statement: “The Greens take allegations like those in that article very seriously and the Party has never received a complaint of the nature outlined on that blog. I’d suggest you talk to The Party for more on that one”, and afterwards, alert Greer and Oliver.
Other scenarios are also war-gamed – such as Steele-John being asked about “Greens and Women”, “Young Greens not supporting Jordon” and Nielsen-Harvey’s decision to quit, with a stock response instructing journalists to seek more information from the WA head office of the party.
When a journalist calls
Page after page of screenshots show inquiries from at least five media outlets over the next three years following the story in True Crime News Weekly.The journalists were provided with the stock responses set out in the crisis communications dossier, including that “the allegations were investigated by The Greens (WA). As The Greens (WA) had not received a complaint … they were only able to identify the individuals concerned as media outlets had their names.”
“The individuals identified had previously spoken to a Party Co-convenor for advice on handling a interpersonal conflict between themselves and Jordon Steele-John. This was of an interpersonal nature … Jordon has not behaved improperly.”
Who might leak?
In the section titled “potential initiators of media story”, senior party officials are assessed on the likelihood that they could assist journalists pursuing the story.Nicole Harvey and Grahame Bowland, both former state co-conveners, were considered “unlikely” to assist in a story about Steele-John. “Nicole is unwilling to break the confidentiality of her conversation with the women,” the dossier states.
It goes on to say that “Grahame has a friendly relationship with one of the two women, and wouldn’t put them in a harmful situation. He also does not know details of what the two women brought to the Party”.
But former co-convener Nielsen-Harvey is listed as a potential risk to the party’s reputation because “Sarah has already written on AYG Discussion Group, personal Facebook page & spoken to journalists, none of these have landed articles”.
It goes on to state “Sarah is still a member of The Greens (WA) – Sophie or Chilla to attempt to call SNH” and warns “Do not put anything in writing to SNH in first instance”.
What Shoebridge knew
At a snap press conference on Thursday after this masthead revealed the letter, Shoebridge said he was not previously aware of the allegations reported by this masthead against Steele-John.“No, I received the correspondence in my capacity as leader of the Australian Greens, and I’ve dealt with it with … urgency,” he said.
Asked in the press conference about the NSW Young Greens raising claims against Steele-John in 2018, Shoebridge said he had not known about this.
“I was in a different parliament,” he said. “I do not recall having any involvement at all in that, and I don’t think people would expect an upper-house MP in a state parliament to have any role in that.”
The Greens have previously faced questions about the transparency of their complaints handling.
Former leader Adam Bandt was briefed in 2021 on a series of scathing assessments of his party’s culture, leading him to order compulsory workplace training for all parliamentarians in the party, but his office still failed to stop a subsequent alleged culture of bullying in the office of then-Greens senator Dorinda Cox.
This was revealed by this masthead in 2024, after 20 staff left Cox’s office in just three years and several lodged formal complaints alleging a hostile culture.
Cox defected to Labor last year.
In 2021, Victorian Indigenous Aunty Geraldine Atkinson sought a formal apology from then-Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe over what she characterised as “a tirade of abuse” and later said she received no acknowledgment from Bandt.
In 2023, Thorpe quit the Greens, claiming she had been bullied and undermined by several of her party room colleagues and had lodged a written complaint about her treatment with Bandt and the parliament’s workplace misconduct support service.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/how-to-kill-a-story-the-secret-dossier-the-greens-used-to-protect-steele-john-20261016-p60xbe.html
That reads as though it’s a political back-stabbing job done on Senator Jordon Steele-John by someone as yet unknown.
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
How to kill a story: The secret dossier the Greens used to protect Steele-JohnJames Massola
Updated October 16, 2026 — 2:55pm,first published 2:34pmThe Greens created and maintained a secret dossier that catalogued allegations against Senator Jordon Steele-John and set out ways to shut down media coverage and monitor members who raised concerns on social media.
The crisis communications strategy obtained by this masthead reveals that as far back as 2016, before Steele-John was parachuted into the Senate in 2017, the party was managing complaints. The document reveals that one senior Greens official quit her role because Steele-John was reinstated as the WA branch’s volunteer co-ordinator, even though two women had lodged complaints alleging Steele-John had made inappropriate remarks while working with them.
The 47-page dossier, stored on a Google Drive folder accessible to Western Australian Greens and national Greens staff for close to a decade, was first drafted in 2016 and has been updated in the years since. It sets out ways to shut down media coverage of allegations about Steele-John, while also instructing taxpayer-funded Greens staff to monitor social media discussions and take screenshots of comments posted by party members.
This masthead has confirmed with four former Greens staffers that the dossier was real and that it was used by the WA Greens and the national leader’s office to manage stories about Steele-John.
Steele-John on Thursday took leave from the Greens party room after leader David Shoebridge received a letter from seven active Greens members demanding an independent investigation into allegations from party members that the WA senator made multiple inappropriate comments to women over the past decade.
The senator referred the matter to the WA Greens for an independent investigation, while rejecting the allegations.
“I utterly reject this characterisation of me, which tries to assert I am someone I am not,” Steele-John said in a statement provided to this masthead.
“These claims are made without specifics, any allegation of this nature is extremely serious and must be treated accordingly. If someone has made an allegation, I am prepared to address it.”
On Friday morning, Shoebridge confirmed Steele-John would take a leave of absence from parliament during the investigation.
The resignation
In an email sent to WA Greens members on July 29, 2017, Sarah Nielsen-Harvey – then a party co-convener – announced that she was resigning after less than a year in the job, saying she wanted to focus on her university studies. Co-conveners are administrators who oversee the party’s governance and provide day-to-day management and co-ordination.The letter contained an oblique reference to turmoil inside the WA branch: “There are also a few things that over this year that have manifested in behaviour and culture that I cannot in good conscience continue being involved with right now”.
Five days later on August 3, the independent website True Crime News Weekly published a story about allegations made against Steele-John by two volunteers, whose names this masthead has chosen not to publish. The story alleged that Steele-John, who was not yet a senator, had been accused of making inappropriate comments by “at least two young female members of the Greens in Western Australia”.
Eventually, the two women decided not to pursue the complaint and, as the crisis communications dossier makes clear, a form of words was agreed: the two women had had a “dispute of an interpersonal nature” with Steele-John but had decided to leave it there.
The real reason she resigned
However, the dossier includes a follow-up email sent on August 17, 2017 to senior party office bearers, including former state Greens leader Elizabeth “Giz” Watson and co-convener Grahame Bowland, in which Nielsen-Harvey made clear the real reason she had quit the party.“I would just like to clear up a few things after receiving accusations that I am ‘about to wreck the good reputation of the Greens’. I am incredibly hurt by this and it is an unfair allegation,” she began. “I could have included my concerns of … allegations in my resignation email. I did not.”
She then detailed contact with journalists, including at Junkee, True Crime News Weekly and The Australian, about her resignation and the allegations against Steele-John, but states that she had not assisted any of the journalists.
“I would like to know where along this journey, since this time last year, it is me ruining the good reputation of the Greens,” Nielsen-Harvey wrote.
“I am not the one allegations were levelled at. I am not the one who, after being made aware of the allegations, decided to still dismiss member involvement in choosing their senator, despite the very real risk that these allegations could very well come up and jeopardise retaining our Senate spot on this rotation. I am not the one who has chased down and tipped off journalists.
“I am not the one trying to silence members into not talking about this at all. The bullying that has happened since Jordon’s decision to accept the role has astounded me. Never have I felt unsafe to go to a Greens meeting or office. Thanks.”
In a separate post to a private Facebook group on August 4, Nielsen-Harvey wrote that she was “disgusted” by the Greens’ decision to re-employ Steele-John as volunteers co-ordinator in the lead up to the 2017 WA state election, when the party was aware of the allegations against him.
Nielsen-Harvey remains a member of the Greens, but holds no administrative or elected positions.
Watson, a former leader of the party in state parliament and now a co-convenor of the WA Greens with Simone Collins, said on Thursday the branch was supporting the commission of an independent inquiry into Steele-John.
In November 2017, Steele-John was parachuted into the federal Senate when former WA Senator Scott Ludlam was disqualified because he held dual citizenship. Steele-John has since made a name for himself as the party’s chief spokesman on the NDIS and mental health. He has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and has advocated for disability rights throughout his nine-year tenure in the Senate.
Monitoring Greens members
But the dossier contains more than the complaints of one former party co-convener.It contains more than a dozen screenshots from a private Young Greens Facebook group, and from X, in which party members and supporters discuss the allegations made by the two women against Steele-John and the party’s handling of them.
Then state convenor Sophie Greer, who helped deal with the initial complaint from the two women, was required to “reach out to them” – Greens members – if they had posted something negative about the newly minted senator and to take screenshots when people discussed the allegations.
Greer is now Steele-John’s chief of staff and is a frontrunner to win the No.1 spot on the party’s Senate ticket ahead of the next election.
Under headings including “what is to be shared on background”, “potential initiators of media story”, “complaint received by the party” and “external management plan if story printed”, the dossier sets out how the party should kill the story.
Steele-John was to “undergo training with Will in case he was asked about the allegations.”
Kelly and Steele-John were instructed to “ensure RDN are provided with information”.
It adds that “Sophie & Tim to keep an eye on Australian Young Greens discussion group”.
Di Natale was contacted for comment, and subsequent former leaders Bandt and Waters. Steele-John, Shoebridge, Bowland, Watson, Nielsen-Harvey, Greer, Oliver and Kelly have also been contacted for comment.
A statement provided by Shoebridge’s office on Friday says: “This is not a document made by, used by, or seen by the Leader’s Office. The office is committed to having the matters comprehensively investigated with a fair, independent and timely process.
“Everyone deserves a safe workplace, and all complaints should be considered in a fair and robust process.”
In a statement from the WA Greens, current co-conveners Watson and Collins confirmed the authenticity of the leaked crisis communications manual.
“The Greens WA responded to allegations about Jordon Steele-John in 2016. The allegations were not substantiated and the named persons have never lodged a formal complaint,” they said.
“Reference has been made to an internal document that has been provided to the media. This document outlines the management of communications about this matter.”
The pair said that Greens WA support the commission of an independent inquiry and that they had no further comment.
The dossier provides “pivot responses” for Steele-John if he was asked about the allegations made against him in the True Crime News Weekly article. He was to issue the following statement: “The Greens take allegations like those in that article very seriously and the Party has never received a complaint of the nature outlined on that blog. I’d suggest you talk to The Party for more on that one”, and afterwards, alert Greer and Oliver.
Other scenarios are also war-gamed – such as Steele-John being asked about “Greens and Women”, “Young Greens not supporting Jordon” and Nielsen-Harvey’s decision to quit, with a stock response instructing journalists to seek more information from the WA head office of the party.
When a journalist calls
Page after page of screenshots show inquiries from at least five media outlets over the next three years following the story in True Crime News Weekly.The journalists were provided with the stock responses set out in the crisis communications dossier, including that “the allegations were investigated by The Greens (WA). As The Greens (WA) had not received a complaint … they were only able to identify the individuals concerned as media outlets had their names.”
“The individuals identified had previously spoken to a Party Co-convenor for advice on handling a interpersonal conflict between themselves and Jordon Steele-John. This was of an interpersonal nature … Jordon has not behaved improperly.”
Who might leak?
In the section titled “potential initiators of media story”, senior party officials are assessed on the likelihood that they could assist journalists pursuing the story.Nicole Harvey and Grahame Bowland, both former state co-conveners, were considered “unlikely” to assist in a story about Steele-John. “Nicole is unwilling to break the confidentiality of her conversation with the women,” the dossier states.
It goes on to say that “Grahame has a friendly relationship with one of the two women, and wouldn’t put them in a harmful situation. He also does not know details of what the two women brought to the Party”.
But former co-convener Nielsen-Harvey is listed as a potential risk to the party’s reputation because “Sarah has already written on AYG Discussion Group, personal Facebook page & spoken to journalists, none of these have landed articles”.
It goes on to state “Sarah is still a member of The Greens (WA) – Sophie or Chilla to attempt to call SNH” and warns “Do not put anything in writing to SNH in first instance”.
What Shoebridge knew
At a snap press conference on Thursday after this masthead revealed the letter, Shoebridge said he was not previously aware of the allegations reported by this masthead against Steele-John.“No, I received the correspondence in my capacity as leader of the Australian Greens, and I’ve dealt with it with … urgency,” he said.
Asked in the press conference about the NSW Young Greens raising claims against Steele-John in 2018, Shoebridge said he had not known about this.
“I was in a different parliament,” he said. “I do not recall having any involvement at all in that, and I don’t think people would expect an upper-house MP in a state parliament to have any role in that.”
The Greens have previously faced questions about the transparency of their complaints handling.
Former leader Adam Bandt was briefed in 2021 on a series of scathing assessments of his party’s culture, leading him to order compulsory workplace training for all parliamentarians in the party, but his office still failed to stop a subsequent alleged culture of bullying in the office of then-Greens senator Dorinda Cox.
This was revealed by this masthead in 2024, after 20 staff left Cox’s office in just three years and several lodged formal complaints alleging a hostile culture.
Cox defected to Labor last year.
In 2021, Victorian Indigenous Aunty Geraldine Atkinson sought a formal apology from then-Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe over what she characterised as “a tirade of abuse” and later said she received no acknowledgment from Bandt.
In 2023, Thorpe quit the Greens, claiming she had been bullied and undermined by several of her party room colleagues and had lodged a written complaint about her treatment with Bandt and the parliament’s workplace misconduct support service.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/how-to-kill-a-story-the-secret-dossier-the-greens-used-to-protect-steele-john-20261016-p60xbe.html
That reads as though it’s a political back-stabbing job done on Senator Jordon Steele-John by someone as yet unknown.
It shows The Greens to be typical humans after all.
party_pants said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
How to kill a story: The secret dossier the Greens used to protect Steele-JohnJames Massola
Updated October 16, 2026 — 2:55pm,first published 2:34pmThe Greens created and maintained a secret dossier that catalogued allegations against Senator Jordon Steele-John and set out ways to shut down media coverage and monitor members who raised concerns on social media.
The crisis communications strategy obtained by this masthead reveals that as far back as 2016, before Steele-John was parachuted into the Senate in 2017, the party was managing complaints. The document reveals that one senior Greens official quit her role because Steele-John was reinstated as the WA branch’s volunteer co-ordinator, even though two women had lodged complaints alleging Steele-John had made inappropriate remarks while working with them.
The 47-page dossier, stored on a Google Drive folder accessible to Western Australian Greens and national Greens staff for close to a decade, was first drafted in 2016 and has been updated in the years since. It sets out ways to shut down media coverage of allegations about Steele-John, while also instructing taxpayer-funded Greens staff to monitor social media discussions and take screenshots of comments posted by party members.
This masthead has confirmed with four former Greens staffers that the dossier was real and that it was used by the WA Greens and the national leader’s office to manage stories about Steele-John.
Steele-John on Thursday took leave from the Greens party room after leader David Shoebridge received a letter from seven active Greens members demanding an independent investigation into allegations from party members that the WA senator made multiple inappropriate comments to women over the past decade.
The senator referred the matter to the WA Greens for an independent investigation, while rejecting the allegations.
“I utterly reject this characterisation of me, which tries to assert I am someone I am not,” Steele-John said in a statement provided to this masthead.
“These claims are made without specifics, any allegation of this nature is extremely serious and must be treated accordingly. If someone has made an allegation, I am prepared to address it.”
On Friday morning, Shoebridge confirmed Steele-John would take a leave of absence from parliament during the investigation.
The resignation
In an email sent to WA Greens members on July 29, 2017, Sarah Nielsen-Harvey – then a party co-convener – announced that she was resigning after less than a year in the job, saying she wanted to focus on her university studies. Co-conveners are administrators who oversee the party’s governance and provide day-to-day management and co-ordination.The letter contained an oblique reference to turmoil inside the WA branch: “There are also a few things that over this year that have manifested in behaviour and culture that I cannot in good conscience continue being involved with right now”.
Five days later on August 3, the independent website True Crime News Weekly published a story about allegations made against Steele-John by two volunteers, whose names this masthead has chosen not to publish. The story alleged that Steele-John, who was not yet a senator, had been accused of making inappropriate comments by “at least two young female members of the Greens in Western Australia”.
Eventually, the two women decided not to pursue the complaint and, as the crisis communications dossier makes clear, a form of words was agreed: the two women had had a “dispute of an interpersonal nature” with Steele-John but had decided to leave it there.
The real reason she resigned
However, the dossier includes a follow-up email sent on August 17, 2017 to senior party office bearers, including former state Greens leader Elizabeth “Giz” Watson and co-convener Grahame Bowland, in which Nielsen-Harvey made clear the real reason she had quit the party.“I would just like to clear up a few things after receiving accusations that I am ‘about to wreck the good reputation of the Greens’. I am incredibly hurt by this and it is an unfair allegation,” she began. “I could have included my concerns of … allegations in my resignation email. I did not.”
She then detailed contact with journalists, including at Junkee, True Crime News Weekly and The Australian, about her resignation and the allegations against Steele-John, but states that she had not assisted any of the journalists.
“I would like to know where along this journey, since this time last year, it is me ruining the good reputation of the Greens,” Nielsen-Harvey wrote.
“I am not the one allegations were levelled at. I am not the one who, after being made aware of the allegations, decided to still dismiss member involvement in choosing their senator, despite the very real risk that these allegations could very well come up and jeopardise retaining our Senate spot on this rotation. I am not the one who has chased down and tipped off journalists.
“I am not the one trying to silence members into not talking about this at all. The bullying that has happened since Jordon’s decision to accept the role has astounded me. Never have I felt unsafe to go to a Greens meeting or office. Thanks.”
In a separate post to a private Facebook group on August 4, Nielsen-Harvey wrote that she was “disgusted” by the Greens’ decision to re-employ Steele-John as volunteers co-ordinator in the lead up to the 2017 WA state election, when the party was aware of the allegations against him.
Nielsen-Harvey remains a member of the Greens, but holds no administrative or elected positions.
Watson, a former leader of the party in state parliament and now a co-convenor of the WA Greens with Simone Collins, said on Thursday the branch was supporting the commission of an independent inquiry into Steele-John.
In November 2017, Steele-John was parachuted into the federal Senate when former WA Senator Scott Ludlam was disqualified because he held dual citizenship. Steele-John has since made a name for himself as the party’s chief spokesman on the NDIS and mental health. He has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and has advocated for disability rights throughout his nine-year tenure in the Senate.
Monitoring Greens members
But the dossier contains more than the complaints of one former party co-convener.It contains more than a dozen screenshots from a private Young Greens Facebook group, and from X, in which party members and supporters discuss the allegations made by the two women against Steele-John and the party’s handling of them.
Then state convenor Sophie Greer, who helped deal with the initial complaint from the two women, was required to “reach out to them” – Greens members – if they had posted something negative about the newly minted senator and to take screenshots when people discussed the allegations.
Greer is now Steele-John’s chief of staff and is a frontrunner to win the No.1 spot on the party’s Senate ticket ahead of the next election.
Under headings including “what is to be shared on background”, “potential initiators of media story”, “complaint received by the party” and “external management plan if story printed”, the dossier sets out how the party should kill the story.
Steele-John was to “undergo training with Will in case he was asked about the allegations.”
Kelly and Steele-John were instructed to “ensure RDN are provided with information”.
It adds that “Sophie & Tim to keep an eye on Australian Young Greens discussion group”.
Di Natale was contacted for comment, and subsequent former leaders Bandt and Waters. Steele-John, Shoebridge, Bowland, Watson, Nielsen-Harvey, Greer, Oliver and Kelly have also been contacted for comment.
A statement provided by Shoebridge’s office on Friday says: “This is not a document made by, used by, or seen by the Leader’s Office. The office is committed to having the matters comprehensively investigated with a fair, independent and timely process.
“Everyone deserves a safe workplace, and all complaints should be considered in a fair and robust process.”
In a statement from the WA Greens, current co-conveners Watson and Collins confirmed the authenticity of the leaked crisis communications manual.
“The Greens WA responded to allegations about Jordon Steele-John in 2016. The allegations were not substantiated and the named persons have never lodged a formal complaint,” they said.
“Reference has been made to an internal document that has been provided to the media. This document outlines the management of communications about this matter.”
The pair said that Greens WA support the commission of an independent inquiry and that they had no further comment.
The dossier provides “pivot responses” for Steele-John if he was asked about the allegations made against him in the True Crime News Weekly article. He was to issue the following statement: “The Greens take allegations like those in that article very seriously and the Party has never received a complaint of the nature outlined on that blog. I’d suggest you talk to The Party for more on that one”, and afterwards, alert Greer and Oliver.
Other scenarios are also war-gamed – such as Steele-John being asked about “Greens and Women”, “Young Greens not supporting Jordon” and Nielsen-Harvey’s decision to quit, with a stock response instructing journalists to seek more information from the WA head office of the party.
When a journalist calls
Page after page of screenshots show inquiries from at least five media outlets over the next three years following the story in True Crime News Weekly.The journalists were provided with the stock responses set out in the crisis communications dossier, including that “the allegations were investigated by The Greens (WA). As The Greens (WA) had not received a complaint … they were only able to identify the individuals concerned as media outlets had their names.”
“The individuals identified had previously spoken to a Party Co-convenor for advice on handling a interpersonal conflict between themselves and Jordon Steele-John. This was of an interpersonal nature … Jordon has not behaved improperly.”
Who might leak?
In the section titled “potential initiators of media story”, senior party officials are assessed on the likelihood that they could assist journalists pursuing the story.Nicole Harvey and Grahame Bowland, both former state co-conveners, were considered “unlikely” to assist in a story about Steele-John. “Nicole is unwilling to break the confidentiality of her conversation with the women,” the dossier states.
It goes on to say that “Grahame has a friendly relationship with one of the two women, and wouldn’t put them in a harmful situation. He also does not know details of what the two women brought to the Party”.
But former co-convener Nielsen-Harvey is listed as a potential risk to the party’s reputation because “Sarah has already written on AYG Discussion Group, personal Facebook page & spoken to journalists, none of these have landed articles”.
It goes on to state “Sarah is still a member of The Greens (WA) – Sophie or Chilla to attempt to call SNH” and warns “Do not put anything in writing to SNH in first instance”.
What Shoebridge knew
At a snap press conference on Thursday after this masthead revealed the letter, Shoebridge said he was not previously aware of the allegations reported by this masthead against Steele-John.“No, I received the correspondence in my capacity as leader of the Australian Greens, and I’ve dealt with it with … urgency,” he said.
Asked in the press conference about the NSW Young Greens raising claims against Steele-John in 2018, Shoebridge said he had not known about this.
“I was in a different parliament,” he said. “I do not recall having any involvement at all in that, and I don’t think people would expect an upper-house MP in a state parliament to have any role in that.”
The Greens have previously faced questions about the transparency of their complaints handling.
Former leader Adam Bandt was briefed in 2021 on a series of scathing assessments of his party’s culture, leading him to order compulsory workplace training for all parliamentarians in the party, but his office still failed to stop a subsequent alleged culture of bullying in the office of then-Greens senator Dorinda Cox.
This was revealed by this masthead in 2024, after 20 staff left Cox’s office in just three years and several lodged formal complaints alleging a hostile culture.
Cox defected to Labor last year.
In 2021, Victorian Indigenous Aunty Geraldine Atkinson sought a formal apology from then-Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe over what she characterised as “a tirade of abuse” and later said she received no acknowledgment from Bandt.
In 2023, Thorpe quit the Greens, claiming she had been bullied and undermined by several of her party room colleagues and had lodged a written complaint about her treatment with Bandt and the parliament’s workplace misconduct support service.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/how-to-kill-a-story-the-secret-dossier-the-greens-used-to-protect-steele-john-20261016-p60xbe.html
That reads as though it’s a political back-stabbing job done on Senator Jordon Steele-John by someone as yet unknown.
It shows The Greens to be typical humans after all.
Yeah, human…
furious said:
party_pants said:
Michael V said:That reads as though it’s a political back-stabbing job done on Senator Jordon Steele-John by someone as yet unknown.
It shows The Greens to be typical humans after all.
Yeah, human…
Soylent Greens are human
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
How to kill a story: The secret dossier the Greens used to protect Steele-JohnJames Massola
Updated October 16, 2026 — 2:55pm,first published 2:34pmThe Greens created and maintained a secret dossier that catalogued allegations against Senator Jordon Steele-John and set out ways to shut down media coverage and monitor members who raised concerns on social media.
The crisis communications strategy obtained by this masthead reveals that as far back as 2016, before Steele-John was parachuted into the Senate in 2017, the party was managing complaints. The document reveals that one senior Greens official quit her role because Steele-John was reinstated as the WA branch’s volunteer co-ordinator, even though two women had lodged complaints alleging Steele-John had made inappropriate remarks while working with them.
The 47-page dossier, stored on a Google Drive folder accessible to Western Australian Greens and national Greens staff for close to a decade, was first drafted in 2016 and has been updated in the years since. It sets out ways to shut down media coverage of allegations about Steele-John, while also instructing taxpayer-funded Greens staff to monitor social media discussions and take screenshots of comments posted by party members.
This masthead has confirmed with four former Greens staffers that the dossier was real and that it was used by the WA Greens and the national leader’s office to manage stories about Steele-John.
Steele-John on Thursday took leave from the Greens party room after leader David Shoebridge received a letter from seven active Greens members demanding an independent investigation into allegations from party members that the WA senator made multiple inappropriate comments to women over the past decade.
The senator referred the matter to the WA Greens for an independent investigation, while rejecting the allegations.
“I utterly reject this characterisation of me, which tries to assert I am someone I am not,” Steele-John said in a statement provided to this masthead.
“These claims are made without specifics, any allegation of this nature is extremely serious and must be treated accordingly. If someone has made an allegation, I am prepared to address it.”
On Friday morning, Shoebridge confirmed Steele-John would take a leave of absence from parliament during the investigation.
The resignation
In an email sent to WA Greens members on July 29, 2017, Sarah Nielsen-Harvey – then a party co-convener – announced that she was resigning after less than a year in the job, saying she wanted to focus on her university studies. Co-conveners are administrators who oversee the party’s governance and provide day-to-day management and co-ordination.The letter contained an oblique reference to turmoil inside the WA branch: “There are also a few things that over this year that have manifested in behaviour and culture that I cannot in good conscience continue being involved with right now”.
Five days later on August 3, the independent website True Crime News Weekly published a story about allegations made against Steele-John by two volunteers, whose names this masthead has chosen not to publish. The story alleged that Steele-John, who was not yet a senator, had been accused of making inappropriate comments by “at least two young female members of the Greens in Western Australia”.
Eventually, the two women decided not to pursue the complaint and, as the crisis communications dossier makes clear, a form of words was agreed: the two women had had a “dispute of an interpersonal nature” with Steele-John but had decided to leave it there.
The real reason she resigned
However, the dossier includes a follow-up email sent on August 17, 2017 to senior party office bearers, including former state Greens leader Elizabeth “Giz” Watson and co-convener Grahame Bowland, in which Nielsen-Harvey made clear the real reason she had quit the party.“I would just like to clear up a few things after receiving accusations that I am ‘about to wreck the good reputation of the Greens’. I am incredibly hurt by this and it is an unfair allegation,” she began. “I could have included my concerns of … allegations in my resignation email. I did not.”
She then detailed contact with journalists, including at Junkee, True Crime News Weekly and The Australian, about her resignation and the allegations against Steele-John, but states that she had not assisted any of the journalists.
“I would like to know where along this journey, since this time last year, it is me ruining the good reputation of the Greens,” Nielsen-Harvey wrote.
“I am not the one allegations were levelled at. I am not the one who, after being made aware of the allegations, decided to still dismiss member involvement in choosing their senator, despite the very real risk that these allegations could very well come up and jeopardise retaining our Senate spot on this rotation. I am not the one who has chased down and tipped off journalists.
“I am not the one trying to silence members into not talking about this at all. The bullying that has happened since Jordon’s decision to accept the role has astounded me. Never have I felt unsafe to go to a Greens meeting or office. Thanks.”
In a separate post to a private Facebook group on August 4, Nielsen-Harvey wrote that she was “disgusted” by the Greens’ decision to re-employ Steele-John as volunteers co-ordinator in the lead up to the 2017 WA state election, when the party was aware of the allegations against him.
Nielsen-Harvey remains a member of the Greens, but holds no administrative or elected positions.
Watson, a former leader of the party in state parliament and now a co-convenor of the WA Greens with Simone Collins, said on Thursday the branch was supporting the commission of an independent inquiry into Steele-John.
In November 2017, Steele-John was parachuted into the federal Senate when former WA Senator Scott Ludlam was disqualified because he held dual citizenship. Steele-John has since made a name for himself as the party’s chief spokesman on the NDIS and mental health. He has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and has advocated for disability rights throughout his nine-year tenure in the Senate.
Monitoring Greens members
But the dossier contains more than the complaints of one former party co-convener.It contains more than a dozen screenshots from a private Young Greens Facebook group, and from X, in which party members and supporters discuss the allegations made by the two women against Steele-John and the party’s handling of them.
Then state convenor Sophie Greer, who helped deal with the initial complaint from the two women, was required to “reach out to them” – Greens members – if they had posted something negative about the newly minted senator and to take screenshots when people discussed the allegations.
Greer is now Steele-John’s chief of staff and is a frontrunner to win the No.1 spot on the party’s Senate ticket ahead of the next election.
Under headings including “what is to be shared on background”, “potential initiators of media story”, “complaint received by the party” and “external management plan if story printed”, the dossier sets out how the party should kill the story.
Steele-John was to “undergo training with Will in case he was asked about the allegations.”
Kelly and Steele-John were instructed to “ensure RDN are provided with information”.
It adds that “Sophie & Tim to keep an eye on Australian Young Greens discussion group”.
Di Natale was contacted for comment, and subsequent former leaders Bandt and Waters. Steele-John, Shoebridge, Bowland, Watson, Nielsen-Harvey, Greer, Oliver and Kelly have also been contacted for comment.
A statement provided by Shoebridge’s office on Friday says: “This is not a document made by, used by, or seen by the Leader’s Office. The office is committed to having the matters comprehensively investigated with a fair, independent and timely process.
“Everyone deserves a safe workplace, and all complaints should be considered in a fair and robust process.”
In a statement from the WA Greens, current co-conveners Watson and Collins confirmed the authenticity of the leaked crisis communications manual.
“The Greens WA responded to allegations about Jordon Steele-John in 2016. The allegations were not substantiated and the named persons have never lodged a formal complaint,” they said.
“Reference has been made to an internal document that has been provided to the media. This document outlines the management of communications about this matter.”
The pair said that Greens WA support the commission of an independent inquiry and that they had no further comment.
The dossier provides “pivot responses” for Steele-John if he was asked about the allegations made against him in the True Crime News Weekly article. He was to issue the following statement: “The Greens take allegations like those in that article very seriously and the Party has never received a complaint of the nature outlined on that blog. I’d suggest you talk to The Party for more on that one”, and afterwards, alert Greer and Oliver.
Other scenarios are also war-gamed – such as Steele-John being asked about “Greens and Women”, “Young Greens not supporting Jordon” and Nielsen-Harvey’s decision to quit, with a stock response instructing journalists to seek more information from the WA head office of the party.
When a journalist calls
Page after page of screenshots show inquiries from at least five media outlets over the next three years following the story in True Crime News Weekly.The journalists were provided with the stock responses set out in the crisis communications dossier, including that “the allegations were investigated by The Greens (WA). As The Greens (WA) had not received a complaint … they were only able to identify the individuals concerned as media outlets had their names.”
“The individuals identified had previously spoken to a Party Co-convenor for advice on handling a interpersonal conflict between themselves and Jordon Steele-John. This was of an interpersonal nature … Jordon has not behaved improperly.”
Who might leak?
In the section titled “potential initiators of media story”, senior party officials are assessed on the likelihood that they could assist journalists pursuing the story.Nicole Harvey and Grahame Bowland, both former state co-conveners, were considered “unlikely” to assist in a story about Steele-John. “Nicole is unwilling to break the confidentiality of her conversation with the women,” the dossier states.
It goes on to say that “Grahame has a friendly relationship with one of the two women, and wouldn’t put them in a harmful situation. He also does not know details of what the two women brought to the Party”.
But former co-convener Nielsen-Harvey is listed as a potential risk to the party’s reputation because “Sarah has already written on AYG Discussion Group, personal Facebook page & spoken to journalists, none of these have landed articles”.
It goes on to state “Sarah is still a member of The Greens (WA) – Sophie or Chilla to attempt to call SNH” and warns “Do not put anything in writing to SNH in first instance”.
What Shoebridge knew
At a snap press conference on Thursday after this masthead revealed the letter, Shoebridge said he was not previously aware of the allegations reported by this masthead against Steele-John.“No, I received the correspondence in my capacity as leader of the Australian Greens, and I’ve dealt with it with … urgency,” he said.
Asked in the press conference about the NSW Young Greens raising claims against Steele-John in 2018, Shoebridge said he had not known about this.
“I was in a different parliament,” he said. “I do not recall having any involvement at all in that, and I don’t think people would expect an upper-house MP in a state parliament to have any role in that.”
The Greens have previously faced questions about the transparency of their complaints handling.
Former leader Adam Bandt was briefed in 2021 on a series of scathing assessments of his party’s culture, leading him to order compulsory workplace training for all parliamentarians in the party, but his office still failed to stop a subsequent alleged culture of bullying in the office of then-Greens senator Dorinda Cox.
This was revealed by this masthead in 2024, after 20 staff left Cox’s office in just three years and several lodged formal complaints alleging a hostile culture.
Cox defected to Labor last year.
In 2021, Victorian Indigenous Aunty Geraldine Atkinson sought a formal apology from then-Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe over what she characterised as “a tirade of abuse” and later said she received no acknowledgment from Bandt.
In 2023, Thorpe quit the Greens, claiming she had been bullied and undermined by several of her party room colleagues and had lodged a written complaint about her treatment with Bandt and the parliament’s workplace misconduct support service.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/how-to-kill-a-story-the-secret-dossier-the-greens-used-to-protect-steele-john-20261016-p60xbe.html
That reads as though it’s a political back-stabbing job done on Senator Jordon Steele-John by someone as yet unknown.
As in why has it all come out now? If the allegations are true it could be that women ten years ago were prepared to keep it quiet for reasons of party unity etc. but newer younger victims are not prepared to put up with that sort of hypocritical cover-up on their watch.
ah well pretty sure Corruption and Ein Reich will be better for women
Cymek said:
furious said:
party_pants said:It shows The Greens to be typical humans after all.
Yeah, human…
Soylent Greens are human
typical politicians we think they mean
meanwhile it seems to us there are solutions just staring this one in the eyes if only people were actually willing to solve the problem
but sure they could just make silly comments about public health measures instead
Looking very much as though the Liberals will win majority govt in Victoria, which I suppose is better than them forming a coalition with ONP. Might win something like 50 seats.
On the other hand ONP will do quite well in the upper house.
dv said:
Looking very much as though the Liberals will win majority govt in Victoria, which I suppose is better than them forming a coalition with ONP. Might win something like 50 seats.On the other hand ONP will do quite well in the upper house.
The stage is set for some world-class ratbaggery.
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
Looking very much as though the Liberals will win majority govt in Victoria, which I suppose is better than them forming a coalition with ONP. Might win something like 50 seats.
On the other hand ONP will do quite well in the upper house.
The stage is set for some world-class ratbaggery.
we love a good enabler vanguard for fascists
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
Looking very much as though the Liberals will win majority govt in Victoria, which I suppose is better than them forming a coalition with ONP. Might win something like 50 seats.
On the other hand ONP will do quite well in the upper house.
The stage is set for some world-class ratbaggery.
we love a good enabler vanguard for fascists
I don’t wish Victorians ill, but I hope PHON wins. Then the rest of Australia can watch them mess up Victoria badly. We as a nation might learn not to vote for PHON.
A new One Nation cartoon ridicules outspoken independent Senator Jacqui Lambie by mocking her vaginal prolapse.
Senator Lambie says Pauline Hanson’s videos are full of “hatred” and spitefulness
Other politicians have criticised the cartoon and defended Senator Lambie’s courage.
This is not to argue that the voters got it wrong. Voters always get it right.
LOL
don’t worry electing ein reich will solve this
roughbarked said:
A new One Nation cartoon ridicules outspoken independent Senator Jacqui Lambie by mocking her vaginal prolapse.Senator Lambie says Pauline Hanson’s videos are full of “hatred” and spitefulness
Other politicians have criticised the cartoon and defended Senator Lambie’s courage.
!!!
That’s awful.
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
A new One Nation cartoon ridicules outspoken independent Senator Jacqui Lambie by mocking her vaginal prolapse.Senator Lambie says Pauline Hanson’s videos are full of “hatred” and spitefulness
Other politicians have criticised the cartoon and defended Senator Lambie’s courage.
!!!
That’s awful.
Downrighht disgusting behaviour. I am appalled that there are people in Australia who will actually vote for such despicable parties.
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
A new One Nation cartoon ridicules outspoken independent Senator Jacqui Lambie by mocking her vaginal prolapse.
Senator Lambie says Pauline Hanson’s videos are full of “hatred” and spitefulness
Other politicians have criticised the cartoon and defended Senator Lambie’s courage.
!!!
That’s awful.
Downrighht disgusting behaviour. I am appalled that there are people in Australia who will actually vote for such despicable parties.
ah but the good news is that 1700000 victorians love this
roughbarked said:
A new One Nation cartoon ridicules outspoken independent Senator Jacqui Lambie by mocking her vaginal prolapse.Senator Lambie says Pauline Hanson’s videos are full of “hatred” and spitefulness
Other politicians have criticised the cartoon and defended Senator Lambie’s courage.
I’m no fan of Lambie but that’s so far beyond anything that might be considered acceptable it’s ridiculous.
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:
A new One Nation cartoon ridicules outspoken independent Senator Jacqui Lambie by mocking her vaginal prolapse.Senator Lambie says Pauline Hanson’s videos are full of “hatred” and spitefulness
Other politicians have criticised the cartoon and defended Senator Lambie’s courage.
I’m no fan of Lambie but that’s so far beyond anything that might be considered acceptable it’s ridiculous.
At the very least.
It’s disgusting.
Spiny Norman said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:
A new One Nation cartoon ridicules outspoken independent Senator Jacqui Lambie by mocking her vaginal prolapse.Senator Lambie says Pauline Hanson’s videos are full of “hatred” and spitefulness
Other politicians have criticised the cartoon and defended Senator Lambie’s courage.
I’m no fan of Lambie but that’s so far beyond anything that might be considered acceptable it’s ridiculous.
At the very least.
It’s disgusting.
Hanson and her ‘party’ seem to believe the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
no way
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/economists-concerns-liberal-coalition-surplus-plan/107280322
surely not
SCIENCE said:
no way
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/economists-concerns-liberal-coalition-surplus-plan/107280322
surely not
‘Dr Hayward said it was “really important” the opposition lay out a framework for delivering the cash surplus by 2032.
“If debt is important to them, tell us how they’re going to reduce that debt. Be clear. Don’t use vague statements,’‘ he said.’
Yeah, get to the bits about ‘shooting the wounded’, and ‘reducing rations for the survivors’.
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:
The Rev Dodgson said:I’m no fan of Lambie but that’s so far beyond anything that might be considered acceptable it’s ridiculous.
At the very least.
It’s disgusting.
Hanson and her ‘party’ seem to believe the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Pauline has sand in hers which explains how she is, she hates sand more than Annakin
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:At the very least.
It’s disgusting.
Hanson and her ‘party’ seem to believe the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Pauline has sand in hers which explains how she is, she hates sand more than Annakin
You’re all being a bit precious when your ABC had her being sodomized with a stick.
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:
A new One Nation cartoon ridicules outspoken independent Senator Jacqui Lambie by mocking her vaginal prolapse.Senator Lambie says Pauline Hanson’s videos are full of “hatred” and spitefulness
Other politicians have criticised the cartoon and defended Senator Lambie’s courage.
I’m no fan of Lambie but that’s so far beyond anything that might be considered acceptable it’s ridiculous.
Unfortunately, the type of person that supports PHON also supports that type of nasty behaviour.
Peak Warming Man said:
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:Hanson and her ‘party’ seem to believe the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Pauline has sand in hers which explains how she is, she hates sand more than Annakin
You’re all being a bit precious when your ABC had her being sodomized with a stick.
(leans over towards PWM, covers mouth from audience view with hand)
whispers: Ahem, Gina Rinehart.
SCIENCE said:
no way
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/economists-concerns-liberal-coalition-surplus-plan/107280322
surely not
Juist the usual: promises that can’t be kept.
It’s simple. If and when they get into government, they’ll declare that they’ve been left with a giant black hole in the budget that Labor weren’t telling anyone about, so they’ll simply cut programs.
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:no way
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/economists-concerns-liberal-coalition-surplus-plan/107280322
surely not
‘Dr Hayward said it was “really important” the opposition lay out a framework for delivering the cash surplus by 2032.
“If debt is important to them, tell us how they’re going to reduce that debt. Be clear. Don’t use vague statements,’‘ he said.’
Yeah, get to the bits about ‘shooting the wounded’, and ‘reducing rations for the survivors’.
Heh!
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:no way
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/economists-concerns-liberal-coalition-surplus-plan/107280322
surely not
Juist the usual: promises that can’t be kept.
It’s simple. If and when they get into government, they’ll declare that they’ve been left with a giant black hole in the budget that Labor weren’t telling anyone about, so they’ll simply cut programs.
…but not the subsidies for the Parliamentary dining room! No, don’t you worry, that sort of thing will be safe.
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:no way
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/economists-concerns-liberal-coalition-surplus-plan/107280322
surely not
Juist the usual: promises that can’t be kept.
It’s simple. If and when they get into government, they’ll declare that they’ve been left with a giant black hole in the budget that Labor weren’t telling anyone about, so they’ll simply cut programs.
Welfare – cut
Environment – cut
Appeasing our lord and master Weyland Yutani – keep
Peak Warming Man said:
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:Hanson and her ‘party’ seem to believe the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Pauline has sand in hers which explains how she is, she hates sand more than Annakin
You’re all being a bit precious when your ABC had her being sodomized with a stick.
What?
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:no way
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/economists-concerns-liberal-coalition-surplus-plan/107280322
surely not
Juist the usual: promises that can’t be kept.
It’s simple. If and when they get into government, they’ll declare that they’ve been left with a giant black hole in the budget that Labor weren’t telling anyone about, so they’ll simply cut programs.
…but not the subsidies for the Parliamentary dining room! No, don’t you worry, that sort of thing will be safe.
And so it should be safe, they are of course born into the ruling class.
The usual cuts: education, roads, women’s business, health etc. “Sorry, it had to be done in order to repair the giant budget black hole.” (Oh, and we’re not telling you that this has been the plan along.)
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:Juist the usual: promises that can’t be kept.
It’s simple. If and when they get into government, they’ll declare that they’ve been left with a giant black hole in the budget that Labor weren’t telling anyone about, so they’ll simply cut programs.
…but not the subsidies for the Parliamentary dining room! No, don’t you worry, that sort of thing will be safe.
And so it should be safe, they are of course born into the ruling class.
The usual cuts: education, roads, women’s business, health etc. “Sorry, it had to be done in order to repair the giant budget black hole.” (Oh, and we’re not telling you that this has been the plan along.)
Can government be sent to My Budget to fix such things
Peak Warming Man said:
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:Hanson and her ‘party’ seem to believe the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Pauline has sand in hers which explains how she is, she hates sand more than Annakin
You’re all being a bit precious when your ABC had her being sodomized with a stick.
the abc isn’t the government.
Michael V said:
The usual cuts: education, roads, women’s business, health etc. “Sorry, it had to be done in order to repair the giant budget black hole.” (Oh, and we’re not telling you that this has been the plan along.)
An interesting part is, ‘Opposition Leader Jess Wilson is promising to deliver a cash surplus for Victoria by 2032, partly funded by a 10-year freeze on public service hiring’.
The implication there is, ‘we can fix it, honest, but you have to keep in mind that not only do you need to vote for us this time, but you’ll have to do the same next time, or you won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of the plan’.
One Nation deputy leader Colleen Harkin says that One Nation does not have a policy on abortion.
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation deputy leader Colleen Harkin says that One Nation does not have a policy on abortion.
Skynet sends terminator back to kill One Nation leaders
Terminator “Pauline Hanson, this is what we call a retroactive abortion, haha,”
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation deputy leader Colleen Harkin says that One Nation does not have a policy on abortion.
One Nation deputy leader Colleen Harkin is, predictably, talking out of her arse.
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:Juist the usual: promises that can’t be kept.
It’s simple. If and when they get into government, they’ll declare that they’ve been left with a giant black hole in the budget that Labor weren’t telling anyone about, so they’ll simply cut programs.
…but not the subsidies for the Parliamentary dining room! No, don’t you worry, that sort of thing will be safe.
And so it should be safe, they are of course born into the ruling class.
The usual cuts: education, roads, women’s business, health etc. “Sorry, it had to be done in order to repair the giant budget black hole.” (Oh, and we’re not telling you that this has been the plan along.)
Yeppers sadly
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:no way
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/economists-concerns-liberal-coalition-surplus-plan/107280322
surely not
Juist the usual: promises that can’t be kept.
It’s simple. If and when they get into government, they’ll declare that they’ve been left with a giant black hole in the budget that Labor weren’t telling anyone about, so they’ll simply cut programs.
More a big if rather than a when.
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:Juist the usual: promises that can’t be kept.
It’s simple. If and when they get into government, they’ll declare that they’ve been left with a giant black hole in the budget that Labor weren’t telling anyone about, so they’ll simply cut programs.
…but not the subsidies for the Parliamentary dining room! No, don’t you worry, that sort of thing will be safe.
And so it should be safe, they are of course born into the ruling class.
The usual cuts: education, roads, women’s business, health etc. “Sorry, it had to be done in order to repair the giant budget black hole.” (Oh, and we’re not telling you that this has been the plan along.)
They’d get rid of the ABC and National Parks etc..
Independent MP Helen Haines has been seriously injured in an incident near her electorate office in Wangaratta, north-east of Melbourne. Emergency services were called to the incident in Wangaratta, just after 3.30pm. A witness has told the ABC they heard a bang and saw a woman pinned between two cars. Another witness said they pulled a man out of a white Landcruiser and found a knife in his pocket.
SCIENCE said:
Independent MP Helen Haines has been seriously injured in an incident near her electorate office in Wangaratta, north-east of Melbourne. Emergency services were called to the incident in Wangaratta, just after 3.30pm. A witness has told the ABC they heard a bang and saw a woman pinned between two cars. Another witness said they pulled a man out of a white Landcruiser and found a knife in his pocket.
Could be an accident.
I’ve carried a folding knife in my pocket just about everywhere since the 1970s. Doesn’t mean i plan to harm anyone with it.
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:Independent MP Helen Haines has been seriously injured in an incident near her electorate office in Wangaratta, north-east of Melbourne. Emergency services were called to the incident in Wangaratta, just after 3.30pm. A witness has told the ABC they heard a bang and saw a woman pinned between two cars. Another witness said they pulled a man out of a white Landcruiser and found a knife in his pocket.
Could be an accident.
I’ve carried a folding knife in my pocket just about everywhere since the 1970s. Doesn’t mean i plan to harm anyone with it.
PM is apparently going to address the nation about it, which seems odd if it was an accident.
Bubblecar said:
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:Independent MP Helen Haines has been seriously injured in an incident near her electorate office in Wangaratta, north-east of Melbourne. Emergency services were called to the incident in Wangaratta, just after 3.30pm. A witness has told the ABC they heard a bang and saw a woman pinned between two cars. Another witness said they pulled a man out of a white Landcruiser and found a knife in his pocket.
Could be an accident.
I’ve carried a folding knife in my pocket just about everywhere since the 1970s. Doesn’t mean i plan to harm anyone with it.
PM is apparently going to address the nation about it, which seems odd if it was an accident.
“
PM is apparently going to address the nation about it,…”
For a second there, i thought that Albo was going to talk about me and my pocket-knife.
Be very careful about the stiffened resolve.
Pauline Hanson under fire for ‘bigoted’ call to remove children with disabilities from mainstream classrooms
Disability advocates and politicians have slammed One Nation senator Pauline Hanson’s call for children with autism and disabilities to be removed from mainstream classrooms, saying the “hurtful” idea would amount to “segregation”.
The Queensland senator made the suggestion during debate on the Federal Government’s school funding legislation, saying children with disabilities were putting a strain on teachers and schools and should be educated separately.
“These kids have a right to an education, by all means, but, if there are a number of them, these children should go into a special classroom and be looked after and given that special attention,” she said.
“Most of the time the teacher spends so much time on them they forget about the child who is straining at the bit and wants to go ahead in leaps and bounds in their education.
“That child is held back by those others, because the teachers spend time with them.
“I am not denying them. If it were one of my children I would love all the time given to them to give them those opportunities. But it is about the loss for our other kids.
“I think that we have more autistic children, yet we are not providing the special classrooms or the schools for these autistic children.
Spiny Norman said:
Be very careful about the stiffened resolve.
People should leave their signs up. Vandalism is not a way to make a point.
And as I have said in the past, I wish Victorians no harm, but PHON needs to get in power somewhere so we can all learn how bad it can be.
Spiny Norman said:
Pauline Hanson under fire for ‘bigoted’ call to remove children with disabilities from mainstream classroomsDisability advocates and politicians have slammed One Nation senator Pauline Hanson’s call for children with autism and disabilities to be removed from mainstream classrooms, saying the “hurtful” idea would amount to “segregation”.
The Queensland senator made the suggestion during debate on the Federal Government’s school funding legislation, saying children with disabilities were putting a strain on teachers and schools and should be educated separately.
“These kids have a right to an education, by all means, but, if there are a number of them, these children should go into a special classroom and be looked after and given that special attention,” she said.
“Most of the time the teacher spends so much time on them they forget about the child who is straining at the bit and wants to go ahead in leaps and bounds in their education.
“That child is held back by those others, because the teachers spend time with them.
“I am not denying them. If it were one of my children I would love all the time given to them to give them those opportunities. But it is about the loss for our other kids.
“I think that we have more autistic children, yet we are not providing the special classrooms or the schools for these autistic children.
What say Ms Angel?
The prime minister says it appears this attack was “deliberate”. Asked if he was aware of any previous threats towards Helen Haines, Albanese says he personally wasn’t aware of any. “Now’s not a time to speculate on the motivation. Now’s the time to address the facts … as we know it. We have told the Australian public because I do think that’s appropriate. They have the right to know.” The joint counter-terrorism task force has been activated. Albanese says they’ll be checking the history of the suspect currently in police custody.
Woodie said:
Spiny Norman said:
Pauline Hanson under fire for ‘bigoted’ call to remove children with disabilities from mainstream classroomsDisability advocates and politicians have slammed One Nation senator Pauline Hanson’s call for children with autism and disabilities to be removed from mainstream classrooms, saying the “hurtful” idea would amount to “segregation”.
The Queensland senator made the suggestion during debate on the Federal Government’s school funding legislation, saying children with disabilities were putting a strain on teachers and schools and should be educated separately.
“These kids have a right to an education, by all means, but, if there are a number of them, these children should go into a special classroom and be looked after and given that special attention,” she said.
“Most of the time the teacher spends so much time on them they forget about the child who is straining at the bit and wants to go ahead in leaps and bounds in their education.
“That child is held back by those others, because the teachers spend time with them.
“I am not denying them. If it were one of my children I would love all the time given to them to give them those opportunities. But it is about the loss for our other kids.
“I think that we have more autistic children, yet we are not providing the special classrooms or the schools for these autistic children.
What say Ms Angel?
There’s hundreds of studies about autistic children in mainstream education. Almost all of them (according to meta studies of said literature) recommend the following:
However, there are an increasing number of specialised schools for children with cognitive differences, which seems to be what she’s referring to, as opposed to say, cerebral palsy kids. These special schools have smaller class numbers and more support staff. There’s a school I applied for when I first qualified as a TA which has a class size of fifteen kids to one teacher and two TAs per class (I’m so glad I didn’t get the job, I lacked the knowledge and experience I have now). These special schools have limitations: teacher shortage, high staff turnover (it’s a challenging gig both physcially and mentally), limited class sizes so kids who need it often are on a waiting list.
Last but certainly not least: autism is a spectrum. With a diagnosis of autism, kids are given a level of support: 1 meaning low support, to 3 meaning high support (the kid I’m currently supporting, pseudonym Hugo, is level 3). I’m going to make the assumption that Pauline Hanson means level 3 kids. While segregation might be fine for some kids, it won’t work for others, but importantly, it also teaches typically-developing children that people different to them are somehow less than. There’s a wealth of studies proving bullying is more likely to occur to autistic children, who will then grow up to have mental health issues. Autistic adults have between 33%-66% higher rate of suicidal ideation than non-autistic adults. Stigmatisation of neurodivergent people of all ages is a dangerous thing. Children need to be around autistic kids to promote tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion.
Unless you’ve got 1:1 support for every autistic child, other kids are going to fly under the radar regardless of whether the classroom is full of autistic kids or a mix of neurodivergent and neurotypical.
correct
Sharkie says she has noticed more aggression in the community since COVID, not solely towards parliamentarians but also against retail and hospitality workers.
but the important thing is that big news and big action will only be taken when politicians are involved
wait are there foreign interfering countries who export terrorism and great free sovereignty and antigovernment sentiment
no, no way
SCIENCE said:
correct
Sharkie says she has noticed more aggression in the community since COVID, not solely towards parliamentarians but also against retail and hospitality workers.
but the important thing is that big news and big action will only be taken when politicians are involved
wait are there foreign interfering countries who export terrorism and great free sovereignty and antigovernment sentiment
no, no way
Should you be working for ASIO?
The man arrested after the attack on independent MP Helen Haines can be revealed as Brendan Nugent.
The 43-year-old has been in custody since being arrested yesterday afternoon and has spent this morning being questioned by detectives.
A source with close knowledge of the investigation told the ABC that Mr Nugent was known to police.
roughbarked said:
The man arrested after the attack on independent MP Helen Haines can be revealed as Brendan Nugent.The 43-year-old has been in custody since being arrested yesterday afternoon and has spent this morning being questioned by detectives.
A source with close knowledge of the investigation told the ABC that Mr Nugent was known to police.
fkn migrants
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
correct
Sharkie says she has noticed more aggression in the community since COVID, not solely towards parliamentarians but also against retail and hospitality workers.
but the important thing is that big news and big action will only be taken when politicians are involved
wait are there foreign interfering countries who export terrorism and great free sovereignty and antigovernment sentiment
no, no way
Should you be working for ASIO?
a separate matter we suppose but guess who
Michael V said:
Spiny Norman said:
Be very careful about the stiffened resolve.
People should leave their signs up. Vandalism is not a way to make a point.
And as I have said in the past, I wish Victorians no harm, but PHON needs to get in power somewhere so we can all learn how bad it can be.
worked for the ussa when kkk needed to demonstrate how terrible fascism would be so nobody would ever vote for it again
wait
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Spiny Norman said:
Be very careful about the stiffened resolve.
People should leave their signs up. Vandalism is not a way to make a point.
And as I have said in the past, I wish Victorians no harm, but PHON needs to get in power somewhere so we can all learn how bad it can be.
worked for the ussa when kkk needed to demonstrate how terrible fascism would be so nobody would ever vote for it again
wait
Heh.
SCIENCE said:
correct
Sharkie says she has noticed more aggression in the community since COVID, not solely towards parliamentarians but also against retail and hospitality workers.
but the important thing is that big news and big action will only be taken when politicians are involved
wait are there foreign interfering countries who export terrorism and great free sovereignty and antigovernment sentiment
no, no way
The way all the other policies are carryin’ on, anyone ‘d think she was dead.
roughbarked said:
The man arrested after the attack on independent MP Helen Haines can be revealed as Brendan Nugent.The 43-year-old has been in custody since being arrested yesterday afternoon and has spent this morning being questioned by detectives.
A source with close knowledge of the investigation told the ABC that Mr Nugent was known to police.
Lock ‘em all up, I say. Anyone known to the police. It seems the place would be a helluva lot safer if they did.
Woodie said:
roughbarked said:
The man arrested after the attack on independent MP Helen Haines can be revealed as Brendan Nugent.The 43-year-old has been in custody since being arrested yesterday afternoon and has spent this morning being questioned by detectives.
A source with close knowledge of the investigation told the ABC that Mr Nugent was known to police.
Lock ‘em all up, I say. Anyone known to the police. It seems the place would be a helluva lot safer if they did.
It seems very possible that she might lose both legs.
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Spiny Norman said:
Be very careful about the stiffened resolve.
People should leave their signs up. Vandalism is not a way to make a point.
And as I have said in the past, I wish Victorians no harm, but PHON needs to get in power somewhere so we can all learn how bad it can be.
worked for the ussa when kkk needed to demonstrate how terrible fascism would be so nobody would ever vote for it again
wait
They increased their gene pool.
Woodie said:
roughbarked said:
The man arrested after the attack on independent MP Helen Haines can be revealed as Brendan Nugent.The 43-year-old has been in custody since being arrested yesterday afternoon and has spent this morning being questioned by detectives.
A source with close knowledge of the investigation told the ABC that Mr Nugent was known to police.
Lock ‘em all up, I say. Anyone known to the police. It seems the place would be a helluva lot safer if they did.
If that had been done beforehand?
roughbarked said:
Woodie said:
roughbarked said:
The man arrested after the attack on independent MP Helen Haines can be revealed as Brendan Nugent.The 43-year-old has been in custody since being arrested yesterday afternoon and has spent this morning being questioned by detectives.
A source with close knowledge of the investigation told the ABC that Mr Nugent was known to police.
Lock ‘em all up, I say. Anyone known to the police. It seems the place would be a helluva lot safer if they did.
If that had been done beforehand?
The Minority Report is a movie.
JudgeMental said:
roughbarked said:
Woodie said:Lock ‘em all up, I say. Anyone known to the police. It seems the place would be a helluva lot safer if they did.
If that had been done beforehand?
The Minority Report is a movie.
It is. Yes.
Spiny Norman said:
Woodie said:
roughbarked said:
The man arrested after the attack on independent MP Helen Haines can be revealed as Brendan Nugent.The 43-year-old has been in custody since being arrested yesterday afternoon and has spent this morning being questioned by detectives.
A source with close knowledge of the investigation told the ABC that Mr Nugent was known to police.
Lock ‘em all up, I say. Anyone known to the police. It seems the place would be a helluva lot safer if they did.
It seems very possible that she might lose both legs.
Let’s see what gems Pauline Hanson comes up with for that.
Divine Angel said:
Spiny Norman said:
Woodie said:Lock ‘em all up, I say. Anyone known to the police. It seems the place would be a helluva lot safer if they did.
It seems very possible that she might lose both legs.
Let’s see what gems Pauline Hanson comes up with for that.
I was thinking the same.
Woodie said:
SCIENCE said:
correct
Sharkie says she has noticed more aggression in the community since COVID, not solely towards parliamentarians but also against retail and hospitality workers.
but the important thing is that big news and big action will only be taken when politicians are involved
wait are there foreign interfering countries who export terrorism and great free sovereignty and antigovernment sentiment
no, no way
The way all the other policies are carryin’ on, anyone ‘d think she was dead.
well she is an important person in an irreplaceable position, she didn’t choose to work in a high risk occupation like this fool
Divine Angel said:
Spiny Norman said:
Woodie said:Lock ‘em all up, I say. Anyone known to the police. It seems the place would be a helluva lot safer if they did.
It seems very possible that she might lose both legs.
Let’s see what gems Pauline Hanson comes up with for that.
Haines has definitely lost one leg. And she was a runner, too, apparently.
:(
PHON will likely do whatever gem will pick up more votes…
Michael V said:
Spiny Norman said:
Be very careful about the stiffened resolve.
People should leave their signs up. Vandalism is not a way to make a point.
And as I have said in the past, I wish Victorians no harm, but PHON needs to get in power somewhere so we can all learn how bad it can be.
Disgusting. Someone has pushed over a lightly pegged ON sign or did it blow over? Coulda been worse.
I don’t agree with you about needing them in power ever.
Mr Nugent appears to be a prolific environmental campaigner, posting regularly to social media about attending protests, and he has been an active member of the group Save Our Strathbogie Forest. Mr Nugent appears to have worked professionally in environmental sciences and describes himself online as a “plant person”, with one post from 2015 referring to outdoors work in “data collection”. He has referred online to studying ecology and having a master’s degree. Mr Nugent attended Wangaratta High School, where he was a footballer, playing in the school’s state-championship-winning Intermediate Boys Football team in 1998. The high school’s newsletter flagged him as one of the best players in that game.
The description of the collision, coupled with the fact that Nugent had been a follower of Haines, reduces the probability that this was an accident.
dv said:
The description of the collision, coupled with the fact that Nugent had been a follower of Haines, reduces the probability that this was an accident.
Fellow has a history of derangement:
A neighbour of the man arrested over the attack on Helen Haines says those who lived nearby had frequently called authorities over concerns for his mental health.
A police operation was underway earlier today at a property in Tarrawingee, about 12 kilometres from Wangaratta, where Brendan Nugent is understood to live.
A neighbour told the ABC that he regularly played “obscenely loud” music and could be heard “screaming”.
They said they were scared of him and that he had recently “spouted gobbledegook” at their family.
“I feel like, you know, the neighbours have all called the police on him numerous times,” the neighbour said.
“I think the police have done everything in their power, they’ve followed it through. I’ve asked for them to do mental health checks on him and get through to the mental health team that supports him and I’m sure that they have done that.”
Sources have confirmed to the ABC that Mr Nugent has undergone a mental health assessment while in custody following yesterday’s incident.
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
The description of the collision, coupled with the fact that Nugent had been a follower of Haines, reduces the probability that this was an accident.
Fellow has a history of derangement:
A neighbour of the man arrested over the attack on Helen Haines says those who lived nearby had frequently called authorities over concerns for his mental health.
A police operation was underway earlier today at a property in Tarrawingee, about 12 kilometres from Wangaratta, where Brendan Nugent is understood to live.
A neighbour told the ABC that he regularly played “obscenely loud” music and could be heard “screaming”.
They said they were scared of him and that he had recently “spouted gobbledegook” at their family.
“I feel like, you know, the neighbours have all called the police on him numerous times,” the neighbour said.
“I think the police have done everything in their power, they’ve followed it through. I’ve asked for them to do mental health checks on him and get through to the mental health team that supports him and I’m sure that they have done that.”
Sources have confirmed to the ABC that Mr Nugent has undergone a mental health assessment while in custody following yesterday’s incident.
there you see, we can play it down as mental health again
SCIENCE said:
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
The description of the collision, coupled with the fact that Nugent had been a follower of Haines, reduces the probability that this was an accident.
Fellow has a history of derangement:
A neighbour of the man arrested over the attack on Helen Haines says those who lived nearby had frequently called authorities over concerns for his mental health.
A police operation was underway earlier today at a property in Tarrawingee, about 12 kilometres from Wangaratta, where Brendan Nugent is understood to live.
A neighbour told the ABC that he regularly played “obscenely loud” music and could be heard “screaming”.
They said they were scared of him and that he had recently “spouted gobbledegook” at their family.
“I feel like, you know, the neighbours have all called the police on him numerous times,” the neighbour said.
“I think the police have done everything in their power, they’ve followed it through. I’ve asked for them to do mental health checks on him and get through to the mental health team that supports him and I’m sure that they have done that.”
Sources have confirmed to the ABC that Mr Nugent has undergone a mental health assessment while in custody following yesterday’s incident.
there you see, we can play it down as mental health again
Depends on how mental he is, his lawyer could ask for Fitness to Plea or Fitness to stand trial assessment
They should something similar in that state.
So tell me, Pauline, how does one make tasteful jokes about vaginal prolapse?
Divine Angel said:
So tell me, Pauline, how does one make tasteful jokes about vaginal prolapse?
Wait until you hear the jokes about MPs who don’t have a leg to stand on.
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
So tell me, Pauline, how does one make tasteful jokes about vaginal prolapse?
Wait until you hear the jokes about MPs who don’t have a leg to stand on.
Too soon.😜
Woodie said:
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
So tell me, Pauline, how does one make tasteful jokes about vaginal prolapse?
Wait until you hear the jokes about MPs who don’t have a leg to stand on.
Too soon.😜
Hey, you just know that someone in PHON is doing the preliminary work already.
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
So tell me, Pauline, how does one make tasteful jokes about vaginal prolapse?
Wait until you hear the jokes about MPs who don’t have a leg to stand on.
is that kind of like Jordon Alexander Steele-John then
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
So tell me, Pauline, how does one make tasteful jokes about vaginal prolapse?
Wait until you hear the jokes about MPs who don’t have a leg to stand on.
Ouch!
Divine Angel said:
So tell me, Pauline, how does one make tasteful jokes about vaginal prolapse?
She’s stoking stochastic terrorism.
She will embolden the not so bright and bigoted to act.
She is vile.
SCIENCE said:
Woodie said:
SCIENCE said:
correct
Sharkie says she has noticed more aggression in the community since COVID, not solely towards parliamentarians but also against retail and hospitality workers.
but the important thing is that big news and big action will only be taken when politicians are involved
wait are there foreign interfering countries who export terrorism and great free sovereignty and antigovernment sentiment
no, no way
The way all the other policies are carryin’ on, anyone ‘d think she was dead.
well she is an important person in an irreplaceable position, she didn’t choose to work in a high risk occupation like this fool
there
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-21/vic-election-campaign-security-helen-haines-attack/107286422
hey if the security is good enough for surgeons going about work then surely it’s good enough for politicians
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
Woodie said:
The way all the other policies are carryin’ on, anyone ‘d think she was dead.
well she is an important person in an irreplaceable position, she didn’t choose to work in a high risk occupation like this fool
there
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-21/vic-election-campaign-security-helen-haines-attack/107286422
hey if the security is good enough for surgeons going about work then surely it’s good enough for politicians
I’d be pointing the finger at those whom pay for adverts like Ditch the witch. I believe that Pauline and Gina as well as others are delliberately fanning the flames of outrage in order to get people to change their votes. But hey, vigilantes only required someone to fan those flanes and people were lynched without a trial.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:SCIENCE said:
well she is an important person in an irreplaceable position, she didn’t choose to work in a high risk occupation like this fool
there
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-21/vic-election-campaign-security-helen-haines-attack/107286422
hey if the security is good enough for surgeons going about work then surely it’s good enough for politicians
I’d be pointing the finger at those whom pay for adverts like Ditch the witch. I believe that Pauline and Gina as well as others are delliberately fanning the flames of outrage in order to get people to change their votes. But hey, vigilantes only required someone to fan those flanes and people were lynched without a trial.
Gina being sodomised with a stick on an ABC program comes to mind
.
Peak Warming Man said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:there
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-21/vic-election-campaign-security-helen-haines-attack/107286422
hey if the security is good enough for surgeons going about work then surely it’s good enough for politicians
I’d be pointing the finger at those whom pay for adverts like Ditch the witch. I believe that Pauline and Gina as well as others are delliberately fanning the flames of outrage in order to get people to change their votes. But hey, vigilantes only required someone to fan those flanes and people were lynched without a trial.
Gina being sodomised with a stick on an ABC program comes to mind
.
you seem to have an unhealthy attachment to this point.
Peak Warming Man said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:there
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-21/vic-election-campaign-security-helen-haines-attack/107286422
hey if the security is good enough for surgeons going about work then surely it’s good enough for politicians
I’d be pointing the finger at those whom pay for adverts like Ditch the witch. I believe that Pauline and Gina as well as others are delliberately fanning the flames of outrage in order to get people to change their votes. But hey, vigilantes only required someone to fan those flanes and people were lynched without a trial.
Gina being sodomised with a stick on an ABC program comes to mind
.
You’re a bit hooked on that.
JudgeMental said:
Peak Warming Man said:
roughbarked said:I’d be pointing the finger at those whom pay for adverts like Ditch the witch. I believe that Pauline and Gina as well as others are delliberately fanning the flames of outrage in order to get people to change their votes. But hey, vigilantes only required someone to fan those flanes and people were lynched without a trial.
Gina being sodomised with a stick on an ABC program comes to mind
.
you seem to have an unhealthy attachment to this point.
Isay, ‘snap!’.
captain_spalding said:
Peak Warming Man said:
roughbarked said:I’d be pointing the finger at those whom pay for adverts like Ditch the witch. I believe that Pauline and Gina as well as others are delliberately fanning the flames of outrage in order to get people to change their votes. But hey, vigilantes only required someone to fan those flanes and people were lynched without a trial.
Gina being sodomised with a stick on an ABC program comes to mind
.
You’re a bit hooked on that.
Fair comment though.
Or at least it would be if they had left the video on air.
The Rev Dodgson said:
captain_spalding said:
Peak Warming Man said:Gina being sodomised with a stick on an ABC program comes to mind
.
You’re a bit hooked on that.
Fair comment though.
Or at least it would be if they had left the video on air.
Thankfully I seem to have missed that unsightly view.
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
captain_spalding said:You’re a bit hooked on that.
Fair comment though.
Or at least it would be if they had left the video on air.
Thankfully I seem to have missed that unsightly view.
IIRC, it was a verbal suggestion rather than a visual thing.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:Fair comment though.
Or at least it would be if they had left the video on air.
Thankfully I seem to have missed that unsightly view.
IIRC, it was a verbal suggestion rather than a visual thing.
That could be why I didn’t see it.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:Thankfully I seem to have missed that unsightly view.
IIRC, it was a verbal suggestion rather than a visual thing.
That could be why I didn’t see it.
I didn’t see it either.
allegedly it was part of a short film made by one of the competitors in the Race Around the World program.
In the commentary afterwards some thought it funny and some didn’t.
Apparently it was taken down after her company formally objected, even though the ABC Ombudsperson said it was OK.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:Fair comment though.
Or at least it would be if they had left the video on air.
Thankfully I seem to have missed that unsightly view.
IIRC, it was a verbal suggestion rather than a visual thing.
isn’t that just a statement about sock puppets
unplanned
Commissioner Bush has also acknowledged “the quick and fearless actions by members of the local community”. “Their actions prevented further serious harm to Helen,” he said. He also thanked the police officers and emergency services in Wangaratta “who arrived on that traumatic scene within seconds”. “In fact, I think it was eight seconds,” he said.
communism bad
Do you think anyone has mentioned this to the government?
captain_spalding said:
Do you think anyone has mentioned this to the government?
so
Brendan Nugent, 43, has been charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the federal offence of causing harm to a Commonwealth public official
The magistrate noted his medical requirements before Mr Nugent was taken away.
His lawyer said Mr Nugent suffers from a rare neurological condition known as idiopathic transverse myelitis and has also been suffering from concussion. Idiopathic transverse myelitis is a spinal cord condition, with symptoms that can cause paralysis, numbness and tingling and sharp pain.
Police charge sheets reveal he has also been charged with cultivating cannabis and possessing cannabis.
this poor fella has a disabling medical condition, self medicates with mellow herbs, could have had a medical episode causing him to lose control of a vehicle, and
Online misogyny leads to ‘real risks’ for female office holders, commissioner says
Premier Ben Carroll said he fears Australia is “straying” from the principals of democracy. He said the attack on Haines “calls for some soul searching”. “Online propaganda is turning neighbour against neighbour. And it’s bloody frightening,” he said.
every woman and her degree or every political player and their online social media ban are out here exploring someone’s misfortune for clout
From Mad Fucking Witches:
This is a TINY number of the deluge of quotes we found yesterday which were publicly said by members of the Australian media (and a few equally-horrific politicians), witches.
There are dozens and dozens more such quotes we could publish, mostly aimed at women politicians but some aimed at women journalists, women activists, and even women sports and entertainment stars.
Read these, and weep:
“You’re a fat slag and a piece of shit … a fat, bitter thing … watch your mouth or I’ll hunt you down!”
- Kyle Sandilands on radio about woman journalist Ali Stephenson after she criticised his TV show, November 2011.
“Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail – Small Breasts, Huge Thighs & A Big Red Box”
- Mocked-up menu dish from an LNP fundraising dinner for LNP candidate Mal Brough, about then-PM Julia Gillard, June 2013.
“I’ll put in 10 grand straight away, make it 20. And if she stays under, 50. What do you reckon, guys?”
- Eddie McGuire on radio about journalist Caroline Wilson taking part in a fundraising water dunk ”, June 2015.
“I just wonder whether Scott Morrison’s going to be fully briefed to shove a sock down her throat” and “Now I hope Scott Morrison gets tough here with a few backhanders.”
- Alan Jones on radio about NZ PM Jacinda Ardern, August 2019.
“I’d rather hammer a nail through the head of my penis … got any men’s sport?”
- Marty Sheargold on radio, February 2025.
“I’ll have PI’s following everyone they’ve ever known till I find some shit on these folks, I think they’re Mothers For Wokeness, MFW, they’re actually very threatening, they’re a dangerous group, masquerading as, like, pillars of society!
- Kyle Sandilands on radio about MFW, April 2025.
“You know I can get nasty too behind the scenes if I have to, and I don’t want to. Well, I don’t want to be burning houses down and shit like that, you know.”
- Kyle Sandilands on radio about MFW founder Jennie Hill, November 2025.
“Suck it up, sweetheart.”
- Pauline Hanson after then-Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen complained about a truck driving around Melbourne carrying signs with her photo and the slogan “Ditch the Witch”, July 2026.
“God, I love you!”
- Karl Stefanovic on his podcast to Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yacksley-Lennon), the violent and criminal British Nazi thug who’s been jailed multiple times for serious offences against women and people in minority groups, July 2026.
“I wonder what sort of evidence they had about him raping her other than the fact she might have had buyer’s remorse?”
- Sam Newman on his podcast about the victim of convicted rapist Ralph Carr, August 2026.
“They should be shamed and stoned in the square.”
- LNP MP Angie Bell about MP Anne Aly and the PM, October 2026.
“Lighten up” … “have a bit of a laugh” … “get over it”
- Pauline Hanson mocking Senator Jacqui Lambie after she objected to being in an episode of Hanson’s “Please Explain” cartoon series, which used Lambie’s past vaginal and bladder prolapse as a punchline, October 2026.
It’s ironic beyond belief that the reason MFW haven’t posted on the terrible attack on Helen Haines before now, or on all the other issues relating to outrageous violence towards women for some time, solely because we’re currently under attack ourselves legally, administratively, and personally.
It’s ironic beyond belief we still have two of our main Administrators mostly living away from their own homes because of repeated violent threats towards them personally, and even more ironic that not only will no Australian authority (including any police force) assist with these threats, but that our own PM still appears to be besties with the depraved and verbally violent Kyle Sandilands.
And it’s ironic beyond belief that our disgraceful media cohort (and most of our politicians) have already jumped to blame social media for all this shocking violence instead of even mentioning, in most cases, the FAR GREATER threat posed by our mainstream legacy media, who insist on defending and employing the men (and women) who said the quotes we’ve listed above. Of course there are negative issues in social media and much unacceptable content, but that behaviour has grown largely from the relentless attacks on women started by corporations led by people such as Murdoch and copied by so many other similar hateful men who want women silenced and, if necessary, harmed.
Anything for link clicks, and damn the fucking consequences.
We don’t yet know just why the perpetrator of the terrible attack on Helen Haines has hurt her so badly. But what we do know is that the PATTERN of male violence against women in Australia is very clear and plain to see, and it’s not only out of control but it’s relentless. Unacceptable. And shocking.
Yet apart from our successful MFW campaigns to get some of these creeps off air for good, few others with the power to act appear to be doing anything (or at least anything worthwhile) to stem the violence.
What the fuck will it take? Who will control the media oligarchs and their punch-down hate model of doing business?
(We send all our good witchy wishes for strength and healing to Helen and her family, and we desperately hope she gets better – as far as that’s possible – soon.)
SCIENCE said:
His lawyer said Mr Nugent suffers from a rare neurological condition known as idiopathic transverse myelitis and has also been suffering from concussion. Idiopathic transverse myelitis is a spinal cord condition, with symptoms that can cause paralysis, numbness and tingling and sharp pain.
This is really interesting.
captain_spalding said:
Do you think anyone has mentioned this to the government?
Not the mining companies.
kii said:
SCIENCE said:His lawyer said Mr Nugent suffers from a rare neurological condition known as idiopathic transverse myelitis and has also been suffering from concussion. Idiopathic transverse myelitis is a spinal cord condition, with symptoms that can cause paralysis, numbness and tingling and sharp pain.
This is really interesting.
No outcome is going to be good
Accident, deliberate but has mental problems, deliberate and was planned.
Cymek said:
kii said:
SCIENCE said:His lawyer said Mr Nugent suffers from a rare neurological condition known as idiopathic transverse myelitis and has also been suffering from concussion. Idiopathic transverse myelitis is a spinal cord condition, with symptoms that can cause paralysis, numbness and tingling and sharp pain.
This is really interesting.
No outcome is going to be good
Accident, deliberate but has mental problems, deliberate and was planned.
If it was an accident he has to live with what happened to another person. Plus the intense media shit storm. His mental health is at further risk.
kii said:
SCIENCE said:
His lawyer said Mr Nugent suffers from a rare neurological condition known as idiopathic transverse myelitis and has also been suffering from concussion. Idiopathic transverse myelitis is a spinal cord condition, with symptoms that can cause paralysis, numbness and tingling and sharp pain.
This is really interesting.
is it, we found it kind of humdrum though we suppose we’r‘n’t a brain surgeon or brainologist or whatever they call it
kii said:
From Mad Fucking Witches:This is a TINY number of the deluge of quotes we found yesterday which were publicly said by members of the Australian media (and a few equally-horrific politicians), witches.
There are dozens and dozens more such quotes we could publish, mostly aimed at women politicians but some aimed at women journalists, women activists, and even women sports and entertainment stars.
Read these, and weep:
“You’re a fat slag and a piece of shit … a fat, bitter thing … watch your mouth or I’ll hunt you down!”
- Kyle Sandilands on radio about woman journalist Ali Stephenson after she criticised his TV show, November 2011.“Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail – Small Breasts, Huge Thighs & A Big Red Box”
- Mocked-up menu dish from an LNP fundraising dinner for LNP candidate Mal Brough, about then-PM Julia Gillard, June 2013.“I’ll put in 10 grand straight away, make it 20. And if she stays under, 50. What do you reckon, guys?”
- Eddie McGuire on radio about journalist Caroline Wilson taking part in a fundraising water dunk ”, June 2015.“I just wonder whether Scott Morrison’s going to be fully briefed to shove a sock down her throat” and “Now I hope Scott Morrison gets tough here with a few backhanders.”
- Alan Jones on radio about NZ PM Jacinda Ardern, August 2019.“I’d rather hammer a nail through the head of my penis … got any men’s sport?”
- Marty Sheargold on radio, February 2025.“I’ll have PI’s following everyone they’ve ever known till I find some shit on these folks, I think they’re Mothers For Wokeness, MFW, they’re actually very threatening, they’re a dangerous group, masquerading as, like, pillars of society!
- Kyle Sandilands on radio about MFW, April 2025.“You know I can get nasty too behind the scenes if I have to, and I don’t want to. Well, I don’t want to be burning houses down and shit like that, you know.”
- Kyle Sandilands on radio about MFW founder Jennie Hill, November 2025.“Suck it up, sweetheart.”
- Pauline Hanson after then-Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen complained about a truck driving around Melbourne carrying signs with her photo and the slogan “Ditch the Witch”, July 2026.“God, I love you!”
- Karl Stefanovic on his podcast to Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yacksley-Lennon), the violent and criminal British Nazi thug who’s been jailed multiple times for serious offences against women and people in minority groups, July 2026.“I wonder what sort of evidence they had about him raping her other than the fact she might have had buyer’s remorse?”
- Sam Newman on his podcast about the victim of convicted rapist Ralph Carr, August 2026.“They should be shamed and stoned in the square.”
- LNP MP Angie Bell about MP Anne Aly and the PM, October 2026.“Lighten up” … “have a bit of a laugh” … “get over it”
- Pauline Hanson mocking Senator Jacqui Lambie after she objected to being in an episode of Hanson’s “Please Explain” cartoon series, which used Lambie’s past vaginal and bladder prolapse as a punchline, October 2026.It’s ironic beyond belief that the reason MFW haven’t posted on the terrible attack on Helen Haines before now, or on all the other issues relating to outrageous violence towards women for some time, solely because we’re currently under attack ourselves legally, administratively, and personally.
It’s ironic beyond belief we still have two of our main Administrators mostly living away from their own homes because of repeated violent threats towards them personally, and even more ironic that not only will no Australian authority (including any police force) assist with these threats, but that our own PM still appears to be besties with the depraved and verbally violent Kyle Sandilands.
And it’s ironic beyond belief that our disgraceful media cohort (and most of our politicians) have already jumped to blame social media for all this shocking violence instead of even mentioning, in most cases, the FAR GREATER threat posed by our mainstream legacy media, who insist on defending and employing the men (and women) who said the quotes we’ve listed above. Of course there are negative issues in social media and much unacceptable content, but that behaviour has grown largely from the relentless attacks on women started by corporations led by people such as Murdoch and copied by so many other similar hateful men who want women silenced and, if necessary, harmed.
Anything for link clicks, and damn the fucking consequences.
We don’t yet know just why the perpetrator of the terrible attack on Helen Haines has hurt her so badly. But what we do know is that the PATTERN of male violence against women in Australia is very clear and plain to see, and it’s not only out of control but it’s relentless. Unacceptable. And shocking.
Yet apart from our successful MFW campaigns to get some of these creeps off air for good, few others with the power to act appear to be doing anything (or at least anything worthwhile) to stem the violence.
What the fuck will it take? Who will control the media oligarchs and their punch-down hate model of doing business?(We send all our good witchy wishes for strength and healing to Helen and her family, and we desperately hope she gets better – as far as that’s possible – soon.)
Great point, extremely well made.
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
SCIENCE said:
His lawyer said Mr Nugent suffers from a rare neurological condition known as idiopathic transverse myelitis and has also been suffering from concussion. Idiopathic transverse myelitis is a spinal cord condition, with symptoms that can cause paralysis, numbness and tingling and sharp pain.
This is really interesting.
is it, we found it kind of humdrum though we suppose we’r‘n’t a brain surgeon or brainologist or whatever they call it
Yes, yes, it is.
This information is speaking about who the man is, without all the screaming noise. It doesn’t take away from the horror of the outcome for Helen Haines.
kii said:
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
This is really interesting.
is it, we found it kind of humdrum though we suppose we’r‘n’t a brain surgeon or brainologist or whatever they call it
Yes, yes, it is.
This information is speaking about who the man is, without all the screaming noise. It doesn’t take away from the horror of the outcome for Helen Haines.
tell yous what is extra interesting, they don’t seem to be screaming about the fellas race or sexgender or social media activity or manifesto or radicalisation or . .. …
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
SCIENCE said:
is it, we found it kind of humdrum though we suppose we’r‘n’t a brain surgeon or brainologist or whatever they call it
Yes, yes, it is.
This information is speaking about who the man is, without all the screaming noise. It doesn’t take away from the horror of the outcome for Helen Haines.
tell yous what is extra interesting, they don’t seem to be screaming about the fellas race or sexgender or social media activity or manifesto or radicalisation or . .. …
He’s white?
Neophyte said:
Fair comment.
kii said:
SCIENCE said:kii said:
This is really interesting.
is it, we found it kind of humdrum though we suppose we’r‘n’t a brain surgeon or brainologist or whatever they call it
Yes, yes, it is.
This information is speaking about who the man is, without all the screaming noise. It doesn’t take away from the horror of the outcome for Helen Haines.
it just sounds like the lawyer is trying to set up a mitigating circumstance.
Arts said:
kii said:
SCIENCE said:is it, we found it kind of humdrum though we suppose we’r‘n’t a brain surgeon or brainologist or whatever they call it
Yes, yes, it is.
This information is speaking about who the man is, without all the screaming noise. It doesn’t take away from the horror of the outcome for Helen Haines.
it just sounds like the lawyer is trying to set up a mitigating circumstance.
Oh good, it wasn’t just my brain that whispered that. It could be quite legit, of course. In which case the whole thing becomes even sadder.
buffy said:
Arts said:
kii said:Yes, yes, it is.
This information is speaking about who the man is, without all the screaming noise. It doesn’t take away from the horror of the outcome for Helen Haines.
it just sounds like the lawyer is trying to set up a mitigating circumstance.
Oh good, it wasn’t just my brain that whispered that. It could be quite legit, of course. In which case the whole thing becomes even sadder.
there’s no question that this event is incredibly tragic, but this condition is often accompanied by driving restrictions.. so it could actually work against him and the fact that he was driving… it depends a lot on what mechanism were in place to treat the conditions, if any, and if he had driving conditions he should have adhered to. Because all of those things change any possibility of intent. Since they haven’t applied for bail (as far as I can tell) it might be an aggravating factor … so it’ll be interesting to see the direction this takes.
Arts said:
kii said:
SCIENCE said:is it, we found it kind of humdrum though we suppose we’r‘n’t a brain surgeon or brainologist or whatever they call it
Yes, yes, it is.
This information is speaking about who the man is, without all the screaming noise. It doesn’t take away from the horror of the outcome for Helen Haines.
it just sounds like the lawyer is trying to set up a mitigating circumstance.
Sure does.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:SCIENCE said:
well she is an important person in an irreplaceable position, she didn’t choose to work in a high risk occupation like this fool
there
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-21/vic-election-campaign-security-helen-haines-attack/107286422
hey if the security is good enough for surgeons going about work then surely it’s good enough for politicians
I’d be pointing the finger at those whom pay for adverts like Ditch the witch. I believe that Pauline and Gina as well as others are delliberately fanning the flames of outrage in order to get people to change their votes. But hey, vigilantes only required someone to fan those flanes and people were lynched without a trial.
Lynching is increasing across America. Danielle Moodie and Joy Reid et.al have been covering that.
I saw an interview with a famous gay guy, whose name I can’t recall, he was lamenting that he had been so out. He said he felt duped and was talking about that he has made it easier for him to be rounded up. He says he’s really toned it down as he is fearful of being attacked. Stochastic Terrorism is going to increase.
ms spock said:
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
Yes, yes, it is.
This information is speaking about who the man is, without all the screaming noise. It doesn’t take away from the horror of the outcome for Helen Haines.
tell yous what is extra interesting, they don’t seem to be screaming about the fellas race or sexgender or social media activity or manifesto or radicalisation or . .. …
He’s white?
honestly we d’n‘o’ but the silence about everything is deafening
can’t comment on ongoing cases and all that sure sure but immediately getting out there with “this no accident we know for sure them targeted” without presenting any other evidence is a great way to make it look like political dog wagging
SCIENCE said:
ms spock said:
SCIENCE said:
tell yous what is extra interesting, they don’t seem to be screaming about the fellas race or sexgender or social media activity or manifesto or radicalisation or . .. …
He’s white?
honestly we d’n‘o’ but the silence about everything is deafening
can’t comment on ongoing cases and all that sure sure but immediately getting out there with “this no accident we know for sure them targeted” without presenting any other evidence is a great way to make it look like political dog wagging
Fair.
Probly old news by now but I’ve just read Helen Haines has lost both her legs in this horrific attack.
Divine Angel said:
Probly old news by now but I’ve just read Helen Haines has lost both her legs in this horrific attack.
:(
Divine Angel said:
Probly old news by now but I’ve just read Helen Haines has lost both her legs in this horrific attack.
😢
Woodie said:
Divine Angel said:
Probly old news by now but I’ve just read Helen Haines has lost both her legs in this horrific attack.
😢
It is terrible.
Divine Angel said:
Probly old news by now but I’ve just read Helen Haines has lost both her legs in this horrific attack.
I hadn’t read that (apart from SN’s note).
ABC live blog
“What took place on Monday was a horrendous incident, and as you know, it’s caused Helen significant injuries,” he says.
“As a result of that, Helen’s left leg was amputated on Monday.
“We had been hoping that her right leg would be saved, but as of this afternoon or this morning, the surgeons had to also remove her right leg.”
“But the good news in all this is that Helen is alive and she’s stable. That is the most important thing for our family.”
Mr Haines says two of his wife’s greatest qualities are her heart and mind.
“Her heart is huge — she is a very compassionate, caring, loving person, incredibly supportive of all around her,” he says.
“And her mind — she has the sharpest intellect. She has always had the most intense desire to learn, to read, to synthesise and to understand what’s going on.
“We are grateful and thankful that, at this stage, both her heart and her mind are in good shape.
He thanks Ms Haines’s office staff, the first responders and people on the scene who supported his wife immediately following the attack.
Mr Haines says he “cannot speak highly enough” of the care his wife has received since being hospitalised.
Divine Angel said:
Probly old news by now but I’ve just read Helen Haines has lost both her legs in this horrific attack.
So sad.
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Probly old news by now but I’ve just read Helen Haines has lost both her legs in this horrific attack.
I hadn’t read that (apart from SN’s note).
Divine Angel said:
ABC live blog“What took place on Monday was a horrendous incident, and as you know, it’s caused Helen significant injuries,” he says.
“As a result of that, Helen’s left leg was amputated on Monday.
“We had been hoping that her right leg would be saved, but as of this afternoon or this morning, the surgeons had to also remove her right leg.”
“But the good news in all this is that Helen is alive and she’s stable. That is the most important thing for our family.”
Mr Haines says two of his wife’s greatest qualities are her heart and mind.
“Her heart is huge — she is a very compassionate, caring, loving person, incredibly supportive of all around her,” he says.
“And her mind — she has the sharpest intellect. She has always had the most intense desire to learn, to read, to synthesise and to understand what’s going on.
“We are grateful and thankful that, at this stage, both her heart and her mind are in good shape.
He thanks Ms Haines’s office staff, the first responders and people on the scene who supported his wife immediately following the attack.
Mr Haines says he “cannot speak highly enough” of the care his wife has received since being hospitalised.
Mr Haines says that while his wife loves flowers, it is not practical to have so many bouquets around.
He says that if people wish to offer financial support, to instead donate to Save the Children, which Ms Haines has been a great supporter of.
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-21/moss-vale-data-centre-gas-plant-court-appeal/107294066
capitalism good
profits to private owners
costs can come credited courtesy of communists
capitalism great
SCIENCE said:
well yes
Keep your doors locked.
Arts said:
buffy said:
Arts said:it just sounds like the lawyer is trying to set up a mitigating circumstance.
Oh good, it wasn’t just my brain that whispered that. It could be quite legit, of course. In which case the whole thing becomes even sadder.
there’s no question that this event is incredibly tragic, but this condition is often accompanied by driving restrictions.. so it could actually work against him and the fact that he was driving… it depends a lot on what mechanism were in place to treat the conditions, if any, and if he had driving conditions he should have adhered to. Because all of those things change any possibility of intent. Since they haven’t applied for bail (as far as I can tell) it might be an aggravating factor … so it’ll be interesting to see the direction this takes.
He’s probably safer in custody at this point.
buffy said:
Arts said:
buffy said:Oh good, it wasn’t just my brain that whispered that. It could be quite legit, of course. In which case the whole thing becomes even sadder.
there’s no question that this event is incredibly tragic, but this condition is often accompanied by driving restrictions.. so it could actually work against him and the fact that he was driving… it depends a lot on what mechanism were in place to treat the conditions, if any, and if he had driving conditions he should have adhered to. Because all of those things change any possibility of intent. Since they haven’t applied for bail (as far as I can tell) it might be an aggravating factor … so it’ll be interesting to see the direction this takes.
He’s probably safer in custody at this point.
You’re all correct that not much has been reported but two things I have gleaned is that his family is probably known to HH so there is a chance it is less random but instead an attack on an authority figure who he blames for his circumstances. Secondly his neighbours seem to think he’s a real butter so I expect his mental state will be far more pertinent than his neurological condition. I may be wrong.
Witty Rejoinder said:
buffy said:
Arts said:there’s no question that this event is incredibly tragic, but this condition is often accompanied by driving restrictions.. so it could actually work against him and the fact that he was driving… it depends a lot on what mechanism were in place to treat the conditions, if any, and if he had driving conditions he should have adhered to. Because all of those things change any possibility of intent. Since they haven’t applied for bail (as far as I can tell) it might be an aggravating factor … so it’ll be interesting to see the direction this takes.
He’s probably safer in custody at this point.
You’re all correct that not much has been reported but two things I have gleaned is that his family is probably known to HH so there is a chance it is less random but instead an attack on an authority figure who he blames for his circumstances. Secondly his neighbours seem to think he’s a real butter so I expect his mental state will be far more pertinent than his neurological condition. I may be wrong.
butter=nutter
Witty Rejoinder said:
buffy said:
Arts said:there’s no question that this event is incredibly tragic, but this condition is often accompanied by driving restrictions.. so it could actually work against him and the fact that he was driving… it depends a lot on what mechanism were in place to treat the conditions, if any, and if he had driving conditions he should have adhered to. Because all of those things change any possibility of intent. Since they haven’t applied for bail (as far as I can tell) it might be an aggravating factor … so it’ll be interesting to see the direction this takes.
He’s probably safer in custody at this point.
You’re all correct that not much has been reported but two things I have gleaned is that his family is probably known to HH so there is a chance it is less random but instead an attack on an authority figure who he blames for his circumstances. Secondly his neighbours seem to think he’s a real butter so I expect his mental state will be far more pertinent than his neurological condition. I may be wrong.
So he’s the Aussie Luigi Mangione
buffy said:
Arts said:
buffy said:Oh good, it wasn’t just my brain that whispered that. It could be quite legit, of course. In which case the whole thing becomes even sadder.
there’s no question that this event is incredibly tragic, but this condition is often accompanied by driving restrictions.. so it could actually work against him and the fact that he was driving… it depends a lot on what mechanism were in place to treat the conditions, if any, and if he had driving conditions he should have adhered to. Because all of those things change any possibility of intent. Since they haven’t applied for bail (as far as I can tell) it might be an aggravating factor … so it’ll be interesting to see the direction this takes.
He’s probably safer in custody at this point.
True that.
One Nation blasted over ‘deeply disturbing’ car-ramming cartoon after Helen Haines attack
While robust criticism is essential to democracy, depicting political opponents as deserving of harm crosses an important ethical line, a communications expert argues.
Aw, but I’m sure they did the attempted murder tastefully.
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation blasted over ‘deeply disturbing’ car-ramming cartoon after Helen Haines attack
While robust criticism is essential to democracy, depicting political opponents as deserving of harm crosses an important ethical line, a communications expert argues.Aw, but I’m sure they did the attempted murder tastefully.
FMD!
One Notion = 1 braincell (shared).
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation blasted over ‘deeply disturbing’ car-ramming cartoon after Helen Haines attack
While robust criticism is essential to democracy, depicting political opponents as deserving of harm crosses an important ethical line, a communications expert argues.Aw, but I’m sure they did the attempted murder tastefully.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation blasted over ‘deeply disturbing’ car-ramming cartoon after Helen Haines attack
While robust criticism is essential to democracy, depicting political opponents as deserving of harm crosses an important ethical line, a communications expert argues.Aw, but I’m sure they did the attempted murder tastefully.
I hope they broadcast criticism of these videos showing the explicit hatred in Victoria in the next few weeks.
‘They’ being the ALP and the Coalition.
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation blasted over ‘deeply disturbing’ car-ramming cartoon after Helen Haines attack
While robust criticism is essential to democracy, depicting political opponents as deserving of harm crosses an important ethical line, a communications expert argues.Aw, but I’m sure they did the attempted murder tastefully.
OK, i’m not trying to excuse PHON at all, but this particular cartoon was released a few years ago.
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation blasted over ‘deeply disturbing’ car-ramming cartoon after Helen Haines attack
While robust criticism is essential to democracy, depicting political opponents as deserving of harm crosses an important ethical line, a communications expert argues.Aw, but I’m sure they did the attempted murder tastefully.
OK, i’m not trying to excuse PHON at all, but this particular cartoon was released a few years ago.
I noticed that, but it should be taken down and nasty, hate or violent rhetoric stopped.
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:
One Nation blasted over ‘deeply disturbing’ car-ramming cartoon after Helen Haines attack
While robust criticism is essential to democracy, depicting political opponents as deserving of harm crosses an important ethical line, a communications expert argues.Aw, but I’m sure they did the attempted murder tastefully.
OK, i’m not trying to excuse PHON at all, but this particular cartoon was released a few years ago.
I noticed that, but it should be taken down and nasty, hate or violent rhetoric stopped.
Agreed.
But, the hoo-ha about the car-ramming cartoon smack of opportunism, with the reporting of it apparently meant to convey that PHON has done it again! and produced a stupid, tactless, andcruel cartoon about someone’s suffering, when it’s really more a matter of coincidence.
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:OK, i’m not trying to excuse PHON at all, but this particular cartoon was released a few years ago.
I noticed that, but it should be taken down and nasty, hate or violent rhetoric stopped.
Agreed.
But, the hoo-ha about the car-ramming cartoon smack of opportunism, with the reporting of it apparently meant to convey that PHON has done it again! and produced a stupid, tactless, andcruel cartoon about someone’s suffering, when it’s really more a matter of coincidence.
wait does anyone actually know what the cartoon says
international rules based law and order
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:I noticed that, but it should be taken down and nasty, hate or violent rhetoric stopped.
Agreed.
But, the hoo-ha about the car-ramming cartoon smack of opportunism, with the reporting of it apparently meant to convey that PHON has done it again! and produced a stupid, tactless, andcruel cartoon about someone’s suffering, when it’s really more a matter of coincidence.
wait does anyone actually know what the cartoon says
A search for information about it reveals that finding the full video clip on major official distributions has become difficult. One Nation has faced severe backlash and intensifying public pressure to scrub the video from its official social channels.
The cartoon—originally released a few years ago as part of Pauline Hanson’s animated Please Explain satire series under the title “The State of Melbourne“—depicts political figures such as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews being struck by an SUV.
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:OK, i’m not trying to excuse PHON at all, but this particular cartoon was released a few years ago.
I noticed that, but it should be taken down and nasty, hate or violent rhetoric stopped.
Agreed.
But, the hoo-ha about the car-ramming cartoon smack of opportunism, with the reporting of it apparently meant to convey that PHON has done it again! and produced a stupid, tactless, andcruel cartoon about someone’s suffering, when it’s really more a matter of coincidence.
It still demonstrates that PHON has contributed to the toxic violent rhetoric in the past and will no doubt do so in the future which has led explicitly to the dreadful incident in Wangaratta.
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:OK, i’m not trying to excuse PHON at all, but this particular cartoon was released a few years ago.
I noticed that, but it should be taken down and nasty, hate or violent rhetoric stopped.
Agreed.
But, the hoo-ha about the car-ramming cartoon smack of opportunism, with the reporting of it apparently meant to convey that PHON has done it again! and produced a stupid, tactless, andcruel cartoon about someone’s suffering, when it’s really more a matter of coincidence.
Nobody should produce this stuff at any time.
(I agree that it’s a coincidence, but this type of stuff should never be produced.)
Witty Rejoinder said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:I noticed that, but it should be taken down and nasty, hate or violent rhetoric stopped.
Agreed.
But, the hoo-ha about the car-ramming cartoon smack of opportunism, with the reporting of it apparently meant to convey that PHON has done it again! and produced a stupid, tactless, andcruel cartoon about someone’s suffering, when it’s really more a matter of coincidence.
It still demonstrates that PHON has contributed to the toxic violent rhetoric in the past and will no doubt do so in the future which has led explicitly to the dreadful incident in Wangaratta.
Oh, yes, agreed, 100%.
But, it’s a bit dodgy, raising this particular cartoon now, years after its appearance, due to a coincidence.
Looks a bit like exploiting Helen Haines suffering, and it’s not PHON doing the exploiting.
SCIENCE said:
international rules based law and order
!!!
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
I noticed that, but it should be taken down and nasty, hate or violent rhetoric stopped.
Agreed.
But, the hoo-ha about the car-ramming cartoon smack of opportunism, with the reporting of it apparently meant to convey that PHON has done it again! and produced a stupid, tactless, andcruel cartoon about someone’s suffering, when it’s really more a matter of coincidence.
Nobody should produce this stuff at any time.
(I agree that it’s a coincidence, but this type of stuff should never be produced.)
disagree that it’s a coincidence, we mean we’ve never made a cartoon about vehicular manslaughter of politicians
it’s temporally removed, yes
it’s indirect, yes
as big boy ANA would say: this wasn’t an accident … there was a deliberate publication, it would appear … we know what the motivation is
Suspect in Haines attack clashed with neighbours as his health unravelled
Sherryn Groch, Cameron Houston, Carla Jaeger and Marta Pascual Juanola
Updated October 20, 2026 — 8:36pm,first published 10:20am
Brendan Nugent was no stranger to police when he allegedly mowed down Helen Haines outside her Wangaratta electorate office on Monday.
The 43-year-old had clashed with neighbours in the nearby town of Tarrawingee, and local officers had visited his property over their complaints in the months before what police say was a targeted attack on the federal MP.
Wangaratta police had also received a report last month, which is still under investigation, that Nugent had menaced a woman with a claw-hammer following an alleged road rage incident near the town.
Nugent’s family said in a statement on Tuesday that they were devastated by the alleged attack on Haines, describing her as their “close friend of more than 20 years”.
“We will be assisting Victoria Police in any way we can,” said his father, Rod, and stepmother, Christine Cunningham, a health executive who has worked with Haines. “We would like to sincerely thank members of the local community and police who came to Helen’s aid yesterday after the shocking and horrific crime.”
Nugent remains in custody after hero locals performed a citizen’s arrest when he allegedly drove at Haines with his four-wheel-drive vehicle repeatedly.
As counter-terrorism police and ASIO continue to probe possible motives, a picture is emerging of Nugent’s rapidly unravelling mental health and the myriad views he shared on social media about the environment, the Israel-Gaza conflict, local politics and medicinal cannabis as pain treatment.
The talented school footballer had once worked in ecological research. He had a reputation for quiet intellect and a history of peaceful community activism in the area. But those who knew him said he had changed dramatically since his days protesting logging in the local forest.
Concerned neighbours had begun calling police out to Nugent’s property after hearing screams, music and ranting in the night. Two neighbours, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons, said Nugent had recently spent time in a mental health facility and was a prolific marijuana smoker.
His sprawling property is a short drive from central Wangaratta and was raided by police on Monday night after the incident. Overgrown and littered with stray garden tools, plastic pot plants and beer bottles, it remained cordoned off by detectives for much of Tuesday.
Nugent had lived there for seven years, neighbours said, after his father bought the land.
He was unemployed, had few friends and locals said his family had also become concerned about his recent behaviour and rarely visited.
One neighbour said they personally had obtained a 12-month intervention order against Nugent in the Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court.
Another, Peter, who requested his surname not be published, said he had made repeated calls to Triple Zero over the past year regarding what he described as Nugent’s allegedly concerning behaviour.
“He’s an absolute nut job,” said Peter, a business owner who lives about 700 metres from Nugent. “He would put music on at 4pm and it would be blaring until eight in the morning.
“He’d be yelling. He was an absolute nightmare and there were a couple of elderly ladies who lived closer to him who were too scared to report him to police.”
Wangaratta police had gone to Nugent’s property three months ago and conducted a welfare check, Peter said.
The local Strathbogie forest anti-logging group confirmed that Nugent was a member for two years in about 2018 and 2019.
He is featured in photos posted by double police killer Dezi Freeman’s landlord, Rebecca Swift, who was involved in the community group around the same time.
Swift, who owns the property where Freeman lived and murdered the police, was pictured with Nugent in a protest in November 2019. Her online activity suggests she joined the anti-government conspiracy movement of which Freeman was a part well after she left the Strathbogie forest group.
“When I knew these people, they were lovely”, said a forest group member who asked not to be named for privacy reasons.
“ was very intelligent, did great research. He was a very decent person.” The group was shocked to learn of his alleged involvement in such an incident, they said. Many members of the group know Haines well.
Swift was contacted for comment, but there is no suggestion she and Nugent were in contact or shared any radical views.
According to one source who knew Nugent after he left the forest group, he had begun railing against government and straying into other activism since the COVID pandemic and as he battled health issues.
Haines, 65, lost a leg in the incident and remains in hospital as doctors fight to save the other. Pictures of the white Toyota LandCruiser which struck her, including a matching number plate, feature on Nugent’s social media.
A barber who pulled Nugent from his car said he also found a knife in the man’s pocket.
A local butcher said Nugent had come in to have several knives sharpened in the days before the incident, and he had seemed like “a normal bloke”. One of Nugent’s knives remained at the shop on Tuesday.
Nugent’s social media history reveals he had previously praised Haines and backed her independent campaign in the area.
In 2019, Nugent commented on one of Haines’ posts that it would be good to see a politician like her “who takes climate change seriously”.
In another apparent show of support for her, he complained about a “wave of LNP funded anti-independent propaganda” that he claimed appeared to have been tailored specifically to target Haines’ electorate of Indi.
Nugent’s comments on Haines’ social media channels, including one in 2020 querying the MP over her support for the forestry sector, did not attract a response from Haines.
His posts had shifted over recent years from local environmentalism to criticising Israel’s war in Gaza, and calling for donations for children in the war-torn Congo.
He criticised the government’s approach to Israel in a series of comments on posts by Senator Penny Wong. In 2024, he accused the Australian government of being “US lap dogs”.
“Maybe if you had warned Israel about attacks, the world wouldn’t be where it is right now,” he wrote.
“You have not been clear on anything other than giving Israel impunity to kill thousands of children,” he commented on another post by Wong a month later.
Earlier in 2024, he defended Houthi strikes on ships in the Red Sea in retaliation against Israel, in a comment on a post from Defence Minister Richard Marles.
In 2015, Nugent tweeted that “Dame Pauline Hanson just has a ring to it … in the order of Australia”.
State MP Tim McCurdy, who represents the area for the Nationals, said Nugent was known in the area and “has been in contact with our office over the journey”.
But McCurdy said Nugent had not made any threats. “Not down that path, but he’s known to our office as well. So I don’t know whether he’s frequented Helen’s office or not. I’m not clear about that, but he’s been in touch with our office over the journey. So he’s known to us.”
McCurdy said he wasn’t planning to take any extra safety precautions at his electoral office following Monday’s incident.
“You can’t help, I suppose, think about these circumstances,” he said. “And, you know, being a bloke walking around a rural town, I don’t feel threatened at all. But I know there are women colleagues in this role who sometimes can feel threatened. And I hear what they’re saying, and we understand that. And we have to address how we can help them to feel safer and be safer by just doing their job.”
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said Nugent might face state and federal charges.
“At this stage, it appears this is an isolated incident, and there are no known threats connected to this matter,” Barrett said.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/suspect-in-helen-haines-attack-named-20261020-p616zq.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
Suspect in Haines attack clashed with neighbours as his health unravelledSherryn Groch, Cameron Houston, Carla Jaeger and Marta Pascual Juanola
Updated October 20, 2026 — 8:36pm,first published 10:20amBrendan Nugent was no stranger to police when he allegedly mowed down Helen Haines outside her Wangaratta electorate office on Monday.
The 43-year-old had clashed with neighbours in the nearby town of Tarrawingee, and local officers had visited his property over their complaints in the months before what police say was a targeted attack on the federal MP.
Wangaratta police had also received a report last month, which is still under investigation, that Nugent had menaced a woman with a claw-hammer following an alleged road rage incident near the town.
Nugent’s family said in a statement on Tuesday that they were devastated by the alleged attack on Haines, describing her as their “close friend of more than 20 years”.
“We will be assisting Victoria Police in any way we can,” said his father, Rod, and stepmother, Christine Cunningham, a health executive who has worked with Haines. “We would like to sincerely thank members of the local community and police who came to Helen’s aid yesterday after the shocking and horrific crime.”
Nugent remains in custody after hero locals performed a citizen’s arrest when he allegedly drove at Haines with his four-wheel-drive vehicle repeatedly.
As counter-terrorism police and ASIO continue to probe possible motives, a picture is emerging of Nugent’s rapidly unravelling mental health and the myriad views he shared on social media about the environment, the Israel-Gaza conflict, local politics and medicinal cannabis as pain treatment.
The talented school footballer had once worked in ecological research. He had a reputation for quiet intellect and a history of peaceful community activism in the area. But those who knew him said he had changed dramatically since his days protesting logging in the local forest.
Concerned neighbours had begun calling police out to Nugent’s property after hearing screams, music and ranting in the night. Two neighbours, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons, said Nugent had recently spent time in a mental health facility and was a prolific marijuana smoker.
His sprawling property is a short drive from central Wangaratta and was raided by police on Monday night after the incident. Overgrown and littered with stray garden tools, plastic pot plants and beer bottles, it remained cordoned off by detectives for much of Tuesday.
Nugent had lived there for seven years, neighbours said, after his father bought the land.
He was unemployed, had few friends and locals said his family had also become concerned about his recent behaviour and rarely visited.
One neighbour said they personally had obtained a 12-month intervention order against Nugent in the Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court.
Another, Peter, who requested his surname not be published, said he had made repeated calls to Triple Zero over the past year regarding what he described as Nugent’s allegedly concerning behaviour.
“He’s an absolute nut job,” said Peter, a business owner who lives about 700 metres from Nugent. “He would put music on at 4pm and it would be blaring until eight in the morning.
“He’d be yelling. He was an absolute nightmare and there were a couple of elderly ladies who lived closer to him who were too scared to report him to police.”
Wangaratta police had gone to Nugent’s property three months ago and conducted a welfare check, Peter said.
The local Strathbogie forest anti-logging group confirmed that Nugent was a member for two years in about 2018 and 2019.
He is featured in photos posted by double police killer Dezi Freeman’s landlord, Rebecca Swift, who was involved in the community group around the same time.
Swift, who owns the property where Freeman lived and murdered the police, was pictured with Nugent in a protest in November 2019. Her online activity suggests she joined the anti-government conspiracy movement of which Freeman was a part well after she left the Strathbogie forest group.
“When I knew these people, they were lovely”, said a forest group member who asked not to be named for privacy reasons.
“ was very intelligent, did great research. He was a very decent person.” The group was shocked to learn of his alleged involvement in such an incident, they said. Many members of the group know Haines well.
Swift was contacted for comment, but there is no suggestion she and Nugent were in contact or shared any radical views.
According to one source who knew Nugent after he left the forest group, he had begun railing against government and straying into other activism since the COVID pandemic and as he battled health issues.
Haines, 65, lost a leg in the incident and remains in hospital as doctors fight to save the other. Pictures of the white Toyota LandCruiser which struck her, including a matching number plate, feature on Nugent’s social media.
A barber who pulled Nugent from his car said he also found a knife in the man’s pocket.
A local butcher said Nugent had come in to have several knives sharpened in the days before the incident, and he had seemed like “a normal bloke”. One of Nugent’s knives remained at the shop on Tuesday.
Nugent’s social media history reveals he had previously praised Haines and backed her independent campaign in the area.
In 2019, Nugent commented on one of Haines’ posts that it would be good to see a politician like her “who takes climate change seriously”.
In another apparent show of support for her, he complained about a “wave of LNP funded anti-independent propaganda” that he claimed appeared to have been tailored specifically to target Haines’ electorate of Indi.
Nugent’s comments on Haines’ social media channels, including one in 2020 querying the MP over her support for the forestry sector, did not attract a response from Haines.
His posts had shifted over recent years from local environmentalism to criticising Israel’s war in Gaza, and calling for donations for children in the war-torn Congo.
He criticised the government’s approach to Israel in a series of comments on posts by Senator Penny Wong. In 2024, he accused the Australian government of being “US lap dogs”.
“Maybe if you had warned Israel about attacks, the world wouldn’t be where it is right now,” he wrote.
“You have not been clear on anything other than giving Israel impunity to kill thousands of children,” he commented on another post by Wong a month later.
Earlier in 2024, he defended Houthi strikes on ships in the Red Sea in retaliation against Israel, in a comment on a post from Defence Minister Richard Marles.
In 2015, Nugent tweeted that “Dame Pauline Hanson just has a ring to it … in the order of Australia”.
State MP Tim McCurdy, who represents the area for the Nationals, said Nugent was known in the area and “has been in contact with our office over the journey”.
But McCurdy said Nugent had not made any threats. “Not down that path, but he’s known to our office as well. So I don’t know whether he’s frequented Helen’s office or not. I’m not clear about that, but he’s been in touch with our office over the journey. So he’s known to us.”
McCurdy said he wasn’t planning to take any extra safety precautions at his electoral office following Monday’s incident.
“You can’t help, I suppose, think about these circumstances,” he said. “And, you know, being a bloke walking around a rural town, I don’t feel threatened at all. But I know there are women colleagues in this role who sometimes can feel threatened. And I hear what they’re saying, and we understand that. And we have to address how we can help them to feel safer and be safer by just doing their job.”
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said Nugent might face state and federal charges.
“At this stage, it appears this is an isolated incident, and there are no known threats connected to this matter,” Barrett said.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/suspect-in-helen-haines-attack-named-20261020-p616zq.html
If he’s mentally impaired the defence lawyer can ask for a fitness to plea or stand trial assessment
The magistrates would then request this if they also believe mental fitness is lacking
In WA they take 3 to 4 months
This man sounds unfit to stand trial or make a plea
Adult Community Corrections in WA arrange this through a third party psychologist or psychiatrist
We have a specialist ACC branch that deals with these types of offenders/people
Takes a while to get it running as the police/DPP provide all sorts of materials for the assessment.
Quite involved and it all relies on cooperation from the person charged
Divine Angel said:
:)
:)
who wouldn’t just go back and commit war crimes all over again if they had a chance
War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith gives a lengthy radio interview where he says he “wouldn’t change a single thing” about his military career.
good news, turns out it was just another stressed, cannabis-using musician after all
Divine Angel said:
What?
I feel really shocked that this has happened to another person, but wtf? Isn’t this type of performative public grief something that is done for deaths?
I’d never heard of Helen Haines until this past week, but she is often in my thoughts now. The same as any person who is seriously hurt that I know about. I only know about her through the media.
I can’t begin to imagine all the pain and shock and horror she is experiencing.
Anyway…
kii said:
Divine Angel said:
What?
I feel really shocked that this has happened to another person, but wtf? Isn’t this type of performative public grief something that is done for deaths?
I’d never heard of Helen Haines until this past week, but she is often in my thoughts now. The same as any person who is seriously hurt that I know about. I only know about her through the media.
I can’t begin to imagine all the pain and shock and horror she is experiencing.
Anyway…
in team sports the performance is the point
From fb
An update from Team Haines.
We want to thank everyone who has reached out with messages of love and support for Helen and her family.
Our team has been overwhelmed by the kindness shown by the Indi community and people right across Australia and internationally.
Since Phil first invited people to donate to Save the Children Australia in Helen’s honour, more than $730,000 has been raised to help children across Australia and around the world. We are deeply moved by the extraordinary generosity of so many people.
Helen has long been inspired by the work of Save the Children, and donations are still welcome at www.savethechildrenfundraising.org.au/helenhaines.
We are working towards reopening our electorate offices in Wangaratta and Wodonga on Thursday, 29 October.
In the meantime, we continue to monitor emails and phone messages and respond to urgent constituent enquiries. Please email helen.haines.mp@aph.gov.au if you need assistance with a Commonwealth matter.
What happened on Monday has deeply affected Helen’s family and all of her staff. Many of us witnessed the incident and some were among the first to come to her aid.
As Helen takes the time she needs to recover, we will take time to look after ourselves and one another, too. Healing will take time, and we ask for your understanding as we navigate the days and weeks ahead.
Thank you for your kindness, patience, and care for Helen, her family and our team. It means more than words will ever convey.
Team Haines 🧡🍊
so this is pretty much all down to vitamin B12 deficiency
Mr Nugent had struggled with mental health issues from a young age, according to a family member who spoke to the ABC. He channelled his energy into the environment, his commitment to veganism and greening. But he also expressed disappointment in the Australian government and the mainstream media. He also wrote about living with transverse myelitis, which causes spinal inflammation and left him in chronic pain.
SCIENCE said:
so this is pretty much all down to vitamin B12 deficiency
Mr Nugent had struggled with mental health issues from a young age, according to a family member who spoke to the ABC. He channelled his energy into the environment, his commitment to veganism and greening. But he also expressed disappointment in the Australian government and the mainstream media. He also wrote about living with transverse myelitis, which causes spinal inflammation and left him in chronic pain.
You think?
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
so this is pretty much all down to vitamin B12 deficiency
Mr Nugent had struggled with mental health issues from a young age, according to a family member who spoke to the ABC. He channelled his energy into the environment, his commitment to veganism and greening. But he also expressed disappointment in the Australian government and the mainstream media. He also wrote about living with transverse myelitis, which causes spinal inflammation and left him in chronic pain.
You think?
that’s what the information is consistent with
SCIENCE said:
so this is pretty much all down to vitamin B12 deficiency
Mr Nugent had struggled with mental health issues from a young age, according to a family member who spoke to the ABC. He channelled his energy into the environment, his commitment to veganism and greening. But he also expressed disappointment in the Australian government and the mainstream media. He also wrote about living with transverse myelitis, which causes spinal inflammation and left him in chronic pain.
Aussie Luigi Mangione…
Except I’m pretty sure Helen Haines isn’t the CEO of health insurance.
also we find the whole slant on the thing, focusing on mental health problem, mentioning conspiracy theoretics in passing yet not pinning it down, quote problematic
mental health is an existing issue for sure
brushing off americese disinformation exports and online “social” media mind control methods and political interference as accelerants of harm, this is stupid
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
so this is pretty much all down to vitamin B12 deficiency
Mr Nugent had struggled with mental health issues from a young age, according to a family member who spoke to the ABC. He channelled his energy into the environment, his commitment to veganism and greening. But he also expressed disappointment in the Australian government and the mainstream media. He also wrote about living with transverse myelitis, which causes spinal inflammation and left him in chronic pain.
You think?
that’s what the information is consistent with
Once these things become chronic, there’s no amount of B12 that will reverse the condition?
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
You think?
that’s what the information is consistent with
Once these things become chronic, there’s no amount of B12 that will reverse the condition?
we guess ¿ we mean thankfully we don’t suffer the same
SCIENCE said:
so this is pretty much all down to vitamin B12 deficiency
Mr Nugent had struggled with mental health issues from a young age, according to a family member who spoke to the ABC. He channelled his energy into the environment, his commitment to veganism and greening. But he also expressed disappointment in the Australian government and the mainstream media. He also wrote about living with transverse myelitis, which causes spinal inflammation and left him in chronic pain.
Tale as old as Genesis 4:1–18
“G’day Hawkie! Hawkie! You’re the best!” “And I sad, ‘Well if I’m that good, how about giving me a lift to town?’,” the former prime minister recalled. “And they said ‘sure’ so I just piled into their car,” he said. The journey was unremarkable — Hawke was delivered to the hotel unscathed, having spent the trip chatting with his fans and calling their mums. “The Americans couldn’t believe it,” Hawke said.
yeah but it’s not the 80s these days mate, we love importing americese everything these days
I don’t doubt that all the reports of ‘threats’ and dickheadedness are real.
Is it possible that our politicians have been yearning for some ‘Secret Service’ type of bodyguarding?
captain_spalding said:
I don’t doubt that all the reports of ‘threats’ and dickheadedness are real.
Is it possible that our politicians have been yearning for some ‘Secret Service’ type of bodyguarding?
we mean we guess it’s actually rare enough that it’s news, since the daily experiences of nurses and teachers doesn’t generally seem to be news
captain_spalding said:
I don’t doubt that all the reports of ‘threats’ and dickheadedness are real.
Is it possible that our politicians have been yearning for some ‘Secret Service’ type of bodyguarding?
The Coalition and the One Notion are talking up the hate speech, the outrage. It is on their heads.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
I don’t doubt that all the reports of ‘threats’ and dickheadedness are real.
Is it possible that our politicians have been yearning for some ‘Secret Service’ type of bodyguarding?
The Coalition and the One Notion are talking up the hate speech, the outrage. It is on their heads.
MP offices have been getting vandalised for yonks. Before the last federal election, I drove past Dutton’s office. It had been vandalised, graffitied, glass broken. Regular people joke about these things. Lunatics actually do them.
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
I don’t doubt that all the reports of ‘threats’ and dickheadedness are real.
Is it possible that our politicians have been yearning for some ‘Secret Service’ type of bodyguarding?
The Coalition and the One Notion are talking up the hate speech, the outrage. It is on their heads.
MP offices have been getting vandalised for yonks. Before the last federal election, I drove past Dutton’s office. It had been vandalised, graffitied, glass broken. Regular people joke about these things. Lunatics actually do them.
Yep.
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
I don’t doubt that all the reports of ‘threats’ and dickheadedness are real.
Is it possible that our politicians have been yearning for some ‘Secret Service’ type of bodyguarding?
The Coalition and the One Notion are talking up the hate speech, the outrage. It is on their heads.
MP offices have been getting vandalised for yonks. Before the last federal election, I drove past Dutton’s office. It had been vandalised, graffitied, glass broken. Regular people joke about these things. Lunatics actually do them.
and that One Notion bloke whinging about someone drawing a moustache on his poster. Hardly a big thing compared to what happened to Helen.
I’ve often toyed with the notion of removing such posters from where they have nailed them to living trees, There should be a law against that.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
I don’t doubt that all the reports of ‘threats’ and dickheadedness are real.
Is it possible that our politicians have been yearning for some ‘Secret Service’ type of bodyguarding?
The Coalition and the One Notion are talking up the hate speech, the outrage. It is on their heads.
+1
roughbarked said:
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:The Coalition and the One Notion are talking up the hate speech, the outrage. It is on their heads.
MP offices have been getting vandalised for yonks. Before the last federal election, I drove past Dutton’s office. It had been vandalised, graffitied, glass broken. Regular people joke about these things. Lunatics actually do them.
Yep.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-26/paul-edbrooke-labor-mp-threat-bullet/107307762
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Divine Angel said:MP offices have been getting vandalised for yonks. Before the last federal election, I drove past Dutton’s office. It had been vandalised, graffitied, glass broken. Regular people joke about these things. Lunatics actually do them.
Yep.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-26/paul-edbrooke-labor-mp-threat-bullet/107307762
is it positive
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:Yep.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-26/paul-edbrooke-labor-mp-threat-bullet/107307762
is it positive
?
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-26/paul-edbrooke-labor-mp-threat-bullet/107307762
is it positive
?
well if yous lot are thinking that’s a red line, then did they have influenza A,B; rsv; sarscov2 or what
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
is it positive
?
well if yous lot are thinking that’s a red line, then did they have influenza A,B; rsv; sarscov2 or what
I’ve got it now. Though RATs is how I recall that.
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
is it positive
?
well if yous lot are thinking that’s a red line, then did they have influenza A,B; rsv; sarscov2 or what
The spending cuts proposed by the opposition to date would save $31 billion over four years, according to a partial costings update.
Launched at a press conference held while MPs were paying tribute to Helen Haines in the lower house, the document puts dollar figures on pledges to slash Labor climate and housing initiatives and strip welfare from permanent residents.
The fiscal update is unusual at this point of the political cycle, with opposition costings typically finalised close to elections. It is also incomplete, focusing mostly on spending and ignoring the cost of its migration cuts and its pledge to scrap Labor’s tax cuts.
But the emphasis on proposals to rein in spending is intended to sharpen attacks on Labor’s own spending and counter perceptions that the Coalition’s policy offering is underdone, according to a Liberal source involved in the process.
“It is absolutely critical at this time to control spending,” Opposition Leader Angus Taylor told reporters, framing the savings as a “down payment” to pay for tax cuts
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-26/coalition-says-cuts-to-save-budget-31-billion/107310512
A man found dead in floodwaters in Queensland’s southeast has been identified as a local dairy farmer and former Fraser Coast council member.
James Hansen, 57, was found unresponsive in floodwaters by police after they were called out to Smothering Creek at Boompa Rd, Boompa, West of Maryborough, shortly after 11am on Monday. He was declared dead by emergency crews a short time later.
Hansen ran as a candidate for One Nation in the 2017 state election.
Queensland fails to appoint Indigenous leaders to hospital boards, in violation of act
In short:
The Queensland government has failed to appoint Indigenous leaders to hospital boards, despite being legally required to do so.
Prominent health leaders have described this as a clear violation of state law.
What’s next?
Health Minister Tim Nicholls says recruitment efforts are ongoing.
Cease and desist! ABC demands One Nation stop casting Bluey in its cartoons
The ABC’s managing director says the broadcaster will issue a cease and desist to One Nation after the political party depicted cartoon character Bluey running over former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Hugh Marks said the party’s depiction of Bluey is a blatant use of intellectual property without permission and a “shocking use of Australia’s most loved character” during a Senate estimates hearing.
“It’s not a parody of any Bluey work. It’s not a minor use of the IP. In my view, it is an infringement of the intellectual property, number one,” Marks said.
The political party has depicted Bluey in several episodes of its Please Explain satirical video series.
“It’s also a shocking use of Australia’s most loved character. In fact, probably the globally most loved character in a video that is both shocking and disrespectful to the children of Australia who love that character so much,” Marks continued.
Spiny Norman said:
Cease and desist! ABC demands One Nation stop casting Bluey in its cartoonsThe ABC’s managing director says the broadcaster will issue a cease and desist to One Nation after the political party depicted cartoon character Bluey running over former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Hugh Marks said the party’s depiction of Bluey is a blatant use of intellectual property without permission and a “shocking use of Australia’s most loved character” during a Senate estimates hearing.
“It’s not a parody of any Bluey work. It’s not a minor use of the IP. In my view, it is an infringement of the intellectual property, number one,” Marks said.
The political party has depicted Bluey in several episodes of its Please Explain satirical video series.
“It’s also a shocking use of Australia’s most loved character. In fact, probably the globally most loved character in a video that is both shocking and disrespectful to the children of Australia who love that character so much,” Marks continued.
Having said that, it’s not uncommon for extremists to use familiar characters to radicalise and recruit members. I’m guessing these short-form videos are on TikTok, which we know is frequented by youths (despite the social media ban).
But then, you know, Pauline Hanson publicly condemned the attack on Helen Haines just last week, so I guess it’s also in the playbook to be a two-faced lying piece of shit.
Spiny Norman said:
Cease and desist! ABC demands One Nation stop casting Bluey in its cartoonsThe ABC’s managing director says the broadcaster will issue a cease and desist to One Nation after the political party depicted cartoon character Bluey running over former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Hugh Marks said the party’s depiction of Bluey is a blatant use of intellectual property without permission and a “shocking use of Australia’s most loved character” during a Senate estimates hearing.
“It’s not a parody of any Bluey work. It’s not a minor use of the IP. In my view, it is an infringement of the intellectual property, number one,” Marks said.
The political party has depicted Bluey in several episodes of its Please Explain satirical video series.
“It’s also a shocking use of Australia’s most loved character. In fact, probably the globally most loved character in a video that is both shocking and disrespectful to the children of Australia who love that character so much,” Marks continued.
Good stuff!
Of course, ABC Journos will immediately be persona non grata as payback. But they almost were anyway.
(I just cut and pasted that from the Trump Playbook.)
Michael V said:
Spiny Norman said:
Cease and desist! ABC demands One Nation stop casting Bluey in its cartoons
The ABC’s managing director says the broadcaster will issue a cease and desist to One Nation after the political party depicted cartoon character Bluey running over former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Hugh Marks said the party’s depiction of Bluey is a blatant use of intellectual property without permission and a “shocking use of Australia’s most loved character” during a Senate estimates hearing.
“It’s not a parody of any Bluey work. It’s not a minor use of the IP. In my view, it is an infringement of the intellectual property, number one,” Marks said.
The political party has depicted Bluey in several episodes of its Please Explain satirical video series.
“It’s also a shocking use of Australia’s most loved character. In fact, probably the globally most loved character in a video that is both shocking and disrespectful to the children of Australia who love that character so much,” Marks continued.
Good stuff!
Of course, ABC Journos will immediately be persona non grata as payback. But they almost were anyway.
(I just cut and pasted that from the Trump Playbook.)
why didn’t they demand it 2 years ago
Divine Angel said:
Spiny Norman said:
Cease and desist! ABC demands One Nation stop casting Bluey in its cartoonsThe ABC’s managing director says the broadcaster will issue a cease and desist to One Nation after the political party depicted cartoon character Bluey running over former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Hugh Marks said the party’s depiction of Bluey is a blatant use of intellectual property without permission and a “shocking use of Australia’s most loved character” during a Senate estimates hearing.
“It’s not a parody of any Bluey work. It’s not a minor use of the IP. In my view, it is an infringement of the intellectual property, number one,” Marks said.
The political party has depicted Bluey in several episodes of its Please Explain satirical video series.
“It’s also a shocking use of Australia’s most loved character. In fact, probably the globally most loved character in a video that is both shocking and disrespectful to the children of Australia who love that character so much,” Marks continued.
What
The
Actual
FHaving said that, it’s not uncommon for extremists to use familiar characters to radicalise and recruit members. I’m guessing these short-form videos are on TikTok, which we know is frequented by youths (despite the social media ban).
But then, you know, Pauline Hanson publicly condemned the attack on Helen Haines just last week, so I guess it’s also in the playbook to be a two-faced lying piece of shit.
what about Iran using Lego to murder great Americans, is that acceptable then
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Spiny Norman said:
Cease and desist! ABC demands One Nation stop casting Bluey in its cartoons
The ABC’s managing director says the broadcaster will issue a cease and desist to One Nation after the political party depicted cartoon character Bluey running over former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Hugh Marks said the party’s depiction of Bluey is a blatant use of intellectual property without permission and a “shocking use of Australia’s most loved character” during a Senate estimates hearing.
“It’s not a parody of any Bluey work. It’s not a minor use of the IP. In my view, it is an infringement of the intellectual property, number one,” Marks said.
The political party has depicted Bluey in several episodes of its Please Explain satirical video series.
“It’s also a shocking use of Australia’s most loved character. In fact, probably the globally most loved character in a video that is both shocking and disrespectful to the children of Australia who love that character so much,” Marks continued.
Good stuff!
Of course, ABC Journos will immediately be persona non grata as payback. But they almost were anyway.
(I just cut and pasted that from the Trump Playbook.)
why didn’t they demand it 2 years ago
I don’t know. Maybe they don’t spend any time looking at the PHON website.
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:Michael V said:
Good stuff!
Of course, ABC Journos will immediately be persona non grata as payback. But they almost were anyway.
(I just cut and pasted that from the Trump Playbook.)
why didn’t they demand it 2 years ago
I don’t know. Maybe they don’t spend any time looking at the PHON website.
Who does?
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:
Spiny Norman said:
Cease and desist! ABC demands One Nation stop casting Bluey in its cartoonsThe ABC’s managing director says the broadcaster will issue a cease and desist to One Nation after the political party depicted cartoon character Bluey running over former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Hugh Marks said the party’s depiction of Bluey is a blatant use of intellectual property without permission and a “shocking use of Australia’s most loved character” during a Senate estimates hearing.
“It’s not a parody of any Bluey work. It’s not a minor use of the IP. In my view, it is an infringement of the intellectual property, number one,” Marks said.
The political party has depicted Bluey in several episodes of its Please Explain satirical video series.
“It’s also a shocking use of Australia’s most loved character. In fact, probably the globally most loved character in a video that is both shocking and disrespectful to the children of Australia who love that character so much,” Marks continued.
What
The
Actual
FHaving said that, it’s not uncommon for extremists to use familiar characters to radicalise and recruit members. I’m guessing these short-form videos are on TikTok, which we know is frequented by youths (despite the social media ban).
But then, you know, Pauline Hanson publicly condemned the attack on Helen Haines just last week, so I guess it’s also in the playbook to be a two-faced lying piece of shit.
what about Iran using Lego to murder great Americans, is that acceptable then
Political sattire, my arse.
“Press dutton to run Australia without migrant workers.”
SCIENCE said:
“Press dutton to run Australia without migrant workers.”
What is he even up to now?
dv said:
SCIENCE said:
“Press dutton to run Australia without migrant workers.”
What is he even up to now?
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
SCIENCE said:
“Press dutton to run Australia without migrant workers.”
What is he even up to now?
Will dinky-di Aussie’s pick up all the dirty yuck jobs no one really wants
good news, expert management keeps Australian economy running hot
Australia’s inflation rate rose more than expected in September, raising expectations of an interest rate hike next week. The consumer price index rose to 0.8 per cent in the month, from 0.4 per cent in August, taking annual inflation to 4.3 per cent, up from 4 per cent a month earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.
SCIENCE said:
good news, expert management keeps Australian economy running hot
Australia’s inflation rate rose more than expected in September, raising expectations of an interest rate hike next week. The consumer price index rose to 0.8 per cent in the month, from 0.4 per cent in August, taking annual inflation to 4.3 per cent, up from 4 per cent a month earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.
Does inflation take into account good old greed and selfishness
You own a shop, your mortgage goes up, you increase prices to compensate and so you can still buy luxuries
This cycle repeats and raised interests rates do nothing.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
good news, expert management keeps Australian economy running hot
Australia’s inflation rate rose more than expected in September, raising expectations of an interest rate hike next week. The consumer price index rose to 0.8 per cent in the month, from 0.4 per cent in August, taking annual inflation to 4.3 per cent, up from 4 per cent a month earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.
Does inflation take into account good old greed and selfishness
You own a shop, your mortgage goes up, you increase prices to compensate and so you can still buy luxuries
This cycle repeats and raised interests rates do nothing.
depends on how elastic and efficient the market is
today yous all discovered that online hate speech only started this month
A Launceston software engineer has created a web program that monitors and records harmful public online comments, after his partner federal MP Jess Teesdale was subject to vile online comments. Called Clarify, the program collects information through comments left on popular social media channels and collects evidence to report threats to police.
oh sorry we mistook, we meant to say it’s been around since wide access to online spaces, just practically nobody cared to do anything about it until politicians experienced it as a direct threat
MPs across the political spectrum are calling for better online behaviour following the attack on independent MP Helen Haines.
so he’s
The headmaster of Perth’s prestigious Scotch College has warned that more Year 12 students are not pushing themselves. The proportion of Year 12s doing four or more ATAR exams fell from 38.1 per cent last year to just 36.9 per cent this year — down from 58 per cent a decade ago.
lying
Alec O’Connell said he supported different pathways to university, but is concerned the decline was a symptom of a bigger problem.
ok genius, tell
“A lot of students now have been given advanced entry to university and some of the universities, that ATAR prerequisite has dropped,” he said. “I think we’ve got to be careful not to encourage students to look for the path of least resistance.”
Dr O’Connell questioned how students entering university through different pathways performed once they arrived.
us, then, what
“Is there enough empirical proof that those pathways lead to successful completion of the courses they’ve chosen?” he said.
is your evidence that atar leads to successful completion of tertiary study then, eh
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
good news, expert management keeps Australian economy running hot
Australia’s inflation rate rose more than expected in September, raising expectations of an interest rate hike next week. The consumer price index rose to 0.8 per cent in the month, from 0.4 per cent in August, taking annual inflation to 4.3 per cent, up from 4 per cent a month earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.
Does inflation take into account good old greed and selfishness
You own a shop, your mortgage goes up, you increase prices to compensate and so you can still buy luxuries
This cycle repeats and raised interests rates do nothing.
depends on how elastic and efficient the market is
I think assumptions are made and the easiest solution is business as usual
Its dangerous giving so much power to bamks
Banks aren’t altruistic and you can almost guarantee they invest in enterprises that bring the most profit and are also morally questionable
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
good news, expert management keeps Australian economy running hot
Australia’s inflation rate rose more than expected in September, raising expectations of an interest rate hike next week. The consumer price index rose to 0.8 per cent in the month, from 0.4 per cent in August, taking annual inflation to 4.3 per cent, up from 4 per cent a month earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.
Does inflation take into account good old greed and selfishness
You own a shop, your mortgage goes up, you increase prices to compensate and so you can still buy luxuries
This cycle repeats and raised interests rates do nothing.
depends on how elastic and efficient the market is
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
Does inflation take into account good old greed and selfishness
You own a shop, your mortgage goes up, you increase prices to compensate and so you can still buy luxuries
This cycle repeats and raised interests rates do nothing.
depends on how elastic and efficient the market is
Do people really like the way all of this works
It benefits the rich, lets not pretend the reserve bank or any bank cares about people
Millions of people stressing about money is considered acceptable
However I imagine every interest rate increase gives the banks hundred of millions of dollars more profit
Inflation is going up because the entire world system we took for granted is collapsing due to a myriad of problems
We now have individual people with more money that entire middle tier nations GDP
Cymek said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:depends on how elastic and efficient the market is
Do people really like the way all of this works
It benefits the rich, lets not pretend the reserve bank or any bank cares about people
Millions of people stressing about money is considered acceptable
However I imagine every interest rate increase gives the banks hundred of millions of dollars more profit
Inflation is going up because the entire world system we took for granted is collapsing due to a myriad of problems
We now have individual people with more money that entire middle tier nations GDP
You’re a public servant. Why do you consider the public servants at the RBA to be any different from you?
Cymek said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:depends on how elastic and efficient the market is
Do people really like the way all of this works
It benefits the rich, lets not pretend the reserve bank or any bank cares about people
Millions of people stressing about money is considered acceptable
However I imagine every interest rate increase gives the banks hundred of millions of dollars more profit
Inflation is going up because the entire world system we took for granted is collapsing due to a myriad of problems
We now have individual people with more money that entire middle tier nations GDP
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:
roughbarked said:Do people really like the way all of this works
It benefits the rich, lets not pretend the reserve bank or any bank cares about people
Millions of people stressing about money is considered acceptable
However I imagine every interest rate increase gives the banks hundred of millions of dollars more profit
Inflation is going up because the entire world system we took for granted is collapsing due to a myriad of problems
We now have individual people with more money that entire middle tier nations GDPYou’re a public servant. Why do you consider the public servants at the RBA to be any different from you?
That’s a sensible question that deserves a considered answer.
I will consider the notion of (say) the RBA or (say) a coal mining company, or (say) a police force and the individuals within those organisations. And the notion of stereotyping.
I do not know the answer.
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:Do people really like the way all of this works
It benefits the rich, lets not pretend the reserve bank or any bank cares about people
Millions of people stressing about money is considered acceptable
However I imagine every interest rate increase gives the banks hundred of millions of dollars more profit
Inflation is going up because the entire world system we took for granted is collapsing due to a myriad of problems
We now have individual people with more money that entire middle tier nations GDPYou’re a public servant. Why do you consider the public servants at the RBA to be any different from you?
That’s a sensible question that deserves a considered answer.
I will consider the notion of (say) the RBA or (say) a coal mining company, or (say) a police force and the individuals within those organisations. And the notion of stereotyping.
I do not know the answer.
Compromised principles
Your decisions benefit private enterprise directly
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:Do people really like the way all of this works
It benefits the rich, lets not pretend the reserve bank or any bank cares about people
Millions of people stressing about money is considered acceptable
However I imagine every interest rate increase gives the banks hundred of millions of dollars more profit
Inflation is going up because the entire world system we took for granted is collapsing due to a myriad of problems
We now have individual people with more money that entire middle tier nations GDPYou’re a public servant. Why do you consider the public servants at the RBA to be any different from you?
That’s a sensible question that deserves a considered answer.
I will consider the notion of (say) the RBA or (say) a coal mining company, or (say) a police force and the individuals within those organisations. And the notion of stereotyping.
I do not know the answer.
Can of worms. I don’t think I have enough brain power to work it out. Anyway, here is some interesting reading, with many “See also” links.
Michael V said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:You’re a public servant. Why do you consider the public servants at the RBA to be any different from you?
That’s a sensible question that deserves a considered answer.
I will consider the notion of (say) the RBA or (say) a coal mining company, or (say) a police force and the individuals within those organisations. And the notion of stereotyping.
I do not know the answer.
Can of worms. I don’t think I have enough brain power to work it out. Anyway, here is some interesting reading, with many “See also” links.
Lotsa worms.
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:You’re a public servant. Why do you consider the public servants at the RBA to be any different from you?
That’s a sensible question that deserves a considered answer.
I will consider the notion of (say) the RBA or (say) a coal mining company, or (say) a police force and the individuals within those organisations. And the notion of stereotyping.
I do not know the answer.
Compromised principles
Your decisions benefit private enterprise directly
The RBA is acting in the best interests of the nation. All government policy benefits or harms differing sectors of the community. Are you going to condemn all politicians too? This is not as simple as you seem to think it is.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:
Michael V said:That’s a sensible question that deserves a considered answer.
I will consider the notion of (say) the RBA or (say) a coal mining company, or (say) a police force and the individuals within those organisations. And the notion of stereotyping.
I do not know the answer.
Compromised principles
Your decisions benefit private enterprise directlyThe RBA is acting in the best interests of the nation. All government policy benefits or harms differing sectors of the community. Are you going to condemn all politicians too? This is not as simple as you seem to think it is.
No its not simple however one purpose of government is to maintain the status quo regardless of anything else
Politicians, hmm, would you trust them, they act in ways that are disgusting, we have a neo-Nazi party now
We aren’t ever going to agree
I believe much of how the world works is wrong, we are seeing evidence everywhere of the collapse of society.
It was inevitable once we realised we better change our ways or risk our entire civilisation collapsing, not extinction, just the good old days gone forever
The status quo won’t give up power or wealth and would prefer to risk our future instead.
Cymek said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:Compromised principles
Your decisions benefit private enterprise directlyThe RBA is acting in the best interests of the nation. All government policy benefits or harms differing sectors of the community. Are you going to condemn all politicians too? This is not as simple as you seem to think it is.
No its not simple however one purpose of government is to maintain the status quo regardless of anything else
Politicians, hmm, would you trust them, they act in ways that are disgusting, we have a neo-Nazi party now
We aren’t ever going to agree
I believe much of how the worldworksis wrong, we are seeing evidence everywhere of the collapse of society.
It was inevitable once we realised we better change our ways or risk our entire civilisation collapsing, not extinction, just the good old days gone forever
The status quo won’t give up power or wealth and would prefer to risk our future instead.
People have been fighting the status quo since time immemorial. The cluster fuck that is America is not representative of the wider world. Besides climate change induced hardships the world will continue to slowly get better as we move forward. I have faith in young people to do better than their parents and grandparents in being custodians of this world and everything I have seen of them makes me think they are up to the task.
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
You’re a public servant. Why do you consider the public servants at the RBA to be any different from you?
That’s a sensible question that deserves a considered answer.
I will consider the notion of (say) the RBA or (say) a coal mining company, or (say) a police force and the individuals within those organisations. And the notion of stereotyping.
I do not know the answer.
Compromised principles
Your decisions benefit private enterprise directly
we mean fair point, central bankers sign up to be able to fight like crime should be fought, police sign up to be caring like 95 year olds with knives should be cared for, nurses sign up to do mathematics with people’s livelihoods, we get it, government workers are all the same bastards
One Neuron does an Angus Taylor.
Not satire
“This is doing the rounds on Twitter because it’s difficult to comprehend how fucking stupid she is”
Hanson, the economic expert.
Spiny Norman said:
“This is doing the rounds on Twitter because it’s difficult to comprehend how fucking stupid she is”Hanson, the economic expert.
Her supporters are thinking just that, and she is their spokesperson.
Aussies urged ‘be prepared’ and stockpile tinned food, bottled water as threats grow
Sales of tinned food, bottled water, wind-up radios and torches have surged around the world. And now, Australians are being urged to do the same.
Millions of people around the world are stockpiling in case of an emergency, and now Aussies are being advised to do the same.
In the UK, sales of tinned food, bottled water, wind-up radios and torches have surged following government advice to “be ready” in the event of a crisis.
Last week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged the public to stock up on three days’ worth of supplies amid the growing threat of war, cyber-attacks and the climate crisis.
It’s not just in the UK, but in many countries around the world. Sweden and Norway, for example, are urged to prepare sufficient household essentials for up to a week in case of major disruptions.
Governments in Japan and Germany have also been encouraging residents to prepare for an emergency.
And Australians should “absolutely” be doing the same, Australian Red Cross Director for Recovery and Resilience, Nichola Krey told Yahoo News Australia.
“We encourage all Australians to be prepared for any disruption,” she said.
She advised Aussies to be aware of the risks in their community and “be prepared for when they eventuate”.
Seems a bit sensationalist and click-baity but it’s not a bad idea to stock up on a few tins of food, etc.
Just three days?
Divine Angel said:
Just three days?
Elsewhere in the article it mentions a full month.
January or February … what a dilemma!
Spiny Norman said:
Aussies urged ‘be prepared’ and stockpile tinned food, bottled water as threats grow
Sales of tinned food, bottled water, wind-up radios and torches have surged around the world. And now, Australians are being urged to do the same.Millions of people around the world are stockpiling in case of an emergency, and now Aussies are being advised to do the same.
In the UK, sales of tinned food, bottled water, wind-up radios and torches have surged following government advice to “be ready” in the event of a crisis.
Last week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged the public to stock up on three days’ worth of supplies amid the growing threat of war, cyber-attacks and the climate crisis.
It’s not just in the UK, but in many countries around the world. Sweden and Norway, for example, are urged to prepare sufficient household essentials for up to a week in case of major disruptions.
Governments in Japan and Germany have also been encouraging residents to prepare for an emergency.
And Australians should “absolutely” be doing the same, Australian Red Cross Director for Recovery and Resilience, Nichola Krey told Yahoo News Australia.
“We encourage all Australians to be prepared for any disruption,” she said.
She advised Aussies to be aware of the risks in their community and “be prepared for when they eventuate”.
Seems a bit sensationalist and click-baity but it’s not a bad idea to stock up on a few tins of food, etc.
The only supply that I don’t have at least three days worth is water. Perhaps I should buy a water tank. I’d‘ve three-quarters filled a 10,000 litre tank from just one living-area downpipe yesterday.
Michael V said:
Spiny Norman said:
Aussies urged ‘be prepared’ and stockpile tinned food, bottled water as threats grow
Sales of tinned food, bottled water, wind-up radios and torches have surged around the world. And now, Australians are being urged to do the same.Millions of people around the world are stockpiling in case of an emergency, and now Aussies are being advised to do the same.
In the UK, sales of tinned food, bottled water, wind-up radios and torches have surged following government advice to “be ready” in the event of a crisis.
Last week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged the public to stock up on three days’ worth of supplies amid the growing threat of war, cyber-attacks and the climate crisis.
It’s not just in the UK, but in many countries around the world. Sweden and Norway, for example, are urged to prepare sufficient household essentials for up to a week in case of major disruptions.
Governments in Japan and Germany have also been encouraging residents to prepare for an emergency.
And Australians should “absolutely” be doing the same, Australian Red Cross Director for Recovery and Resilience, Nichola Krey told Yahoo News Australia.
“We encourage all Australians to be prepared for any disruption,” she said.
She advised Aussies to be aware of the risks in their community and “be prepared for when they eventuate”.
Seems a bit sensationalist and click-baity but it’s not a bad idea to stock up on a few tins of food, etc.
The only supply that I don’t have at least three days worth is water. Perhaps I should buy a water tank. I’d‘ve three-quarters filled a 10,000 litre tank from just one living-area downpipe yesterday.
I’ve got a tank, but I’d need something to boil water with. I’ve got a small butane-powered gas stove.
Dad’s been prepping for some time though.
Michael V said:
Spiny Norman said:
Aussies urged ‘be prepared’ and stockpile tinned food, bottled water as threats grow
Sales of tinned food, bottled water, wind-up radios and torches have surged around the world. And now, Australians are being urged to do the same.Millions of people around the world are stockpiling in case of an emergency, and now Aussies are being advised to do the same.
In the UK, sales of tinned food, bottled water, wind-up radios and torches have surged following government advice to “be ready” in the event of a crisis.
Last week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged the public to stock up on three days’ worth of supplies amid the growing threat of war, cyber-attacks and the climate crisis.
It’s not just in the UK, but in many countries around the world. Sweden and Norway, for example, are urged to prepare sufficient household essentials for up to a week in case of major disruptions.
Governments in Japan and Germany have also been encouraging residents to prepare for an emergency.
And Australians should “absolutely” be doing the same, Australian Red Cross Director for Recovery and Resilience, Nichola Krey told Yahoo News Australia.
“We encourage all Australians to be prepared for any disruption,” she said.
She advised Aussies to be aware of the risks in their community and “be prepared for when they eventuate”.
Seems a bit sensationalist and click-baity but it’s not a bad idea to stock up on a few tins of food, etc.
The only supply that I don’t have at least three days worth is water. Perhaps I should buy a water tank. I’d‘ve three-quarters filled a 10,000 litre tank from just one living-area downpipe yesterday.
I have to say I’m tempted to get a couple of IBC’s. That’s 2,000 litres. But I really don’t know where they’d go here.
Juice Media and the Great Fuckoffening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Lua2Xzg5s
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-27/sa-man-avoids-jail-in-milestone-deepfake-pornography-case/107313206
First Australian charged under deepfake pornography laws avoids jail
The first person to be charged in Australia under new laws combating deepfake pornography has avoided jail after a judge concluded he did not have a “malicious motive”.
William Hamish Yeates, 20, of Netherby, previously admitted to creating sexually explicit deepfake images of a teenage girl before sharing them on online platforms Ero Me and X — formerly known as Twitter — in 2024 and 2025.
We shouldn’t ‘blindly’ believe allegations of violence against women, Queensland’s new DV minister said in resurfaced comments
Concerns raised about appointment of former federal senator, Amanda Stoker, who has previously supported the rights of people accused of sexual assault
Women’s safety advocates have raised concerns about the appointment of rightwing Queensland MP Amanda Stoker as the state’s minister for the prevention of domestic violence in light of her resurfaced statements that people should not “blindly” believe women who make allegations of violence.
Stoker, who was appointed to the role on Saturday, argued in a 2023 article that the recent push to believe complaints “rather than carefully assess relevant evidence” would harm innocent defendants.
The former federal senator, has repeatedly supported the rights of people accused of sexual assault and implied some were subject to “false allegations”.
Former Australian of the year Grace Tame, who in 2021 criticised Stoker’s appointment to the federal outer ministry, said the appointment was “disappointing”.
Stoker’s appointment this week was welcomed in public by some in the community sector. Guardian Australia has also spoken to several people who work in Queensland supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence who said they had private concerns about Stoker taking over the portfolio, which includes responsibility for the child safety system, after the resignation of Amanda Camm.
And some data on this subject. It’s from the US but is reasonably representative of many countries.
https://www.midwestern.nsw.gov.au/files/assets/public/v/1/council-meetings/2026/11.-october-21/council-meeting-21-october-2026-unconfirmed-minutes.pdf
Spiny Norman said:
We shouldn’t ‘blindly’ believe allegations of violence against women, Queensland’s new DV minister said in resurfaced comments
Concerns raised about appointment of former federal senator, Amanda Stoker, who has previously supported the rights of people accused of sexual assaultWomen’s safety advocates have raised concerns about the appointment of rightwing Queensland MP Amanda Stoker as the state’s minister for the prevention of domestic violence in light of her resurfaced statements that people should not “blindly” believe women who make allegations of violence.
Stoker, who was appointed to the role on Saturday, argued in a 2023 article that the recent push to believe complaints “rather than carefully assess relevant evidence” would harm innocent defendants.
The former federal senator, has repeatedly supported the rights of people accused of sexual assault and implied some were subject to “false allegations”.
Former Australian of the year Grace Tame, who in 2021 criticised Stoker’s appointment to the federal outer ministry, said the appointment was “disappointing”.
Stoker’s appointment this week was welcomed in public by some in the community sector. Guardian Australia has also spoken to several people who work in Queensland supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence who said they had private concerns about Stoker taking over the portfolio, which includes responsibility for the child safety system, after the resignation of Amanda Camm.
And some data on this subject. It’s from the US but is reasonably representative of many countries.
Yeah.
SCIENCE said:
today yous all discovered that online hate speech only started this month
A Launceston software engineer has created a web program that monitors and records harmful public online comments, after his partner federal MP Jess Teesdale was subject to vile online comments. Called Clarify, the program collects information through comments left on popular social media channels and collects evidence to report threats to police.
oh sorry we mistook, we meant to say it’s been around since wide access to online spaces, just practically nobody cared to do anything about it until politicians experienced it as a direct threat
MPs across the political spectrum are calling for better online behaviour following the attack on independent MP Helen Haines.
wait wait wait so
An early prison assessment of the man who police allege deliberately rammed federal MP Helen Haines has found no indication of extremism.
it turns out that if our great dear beloved politician leadership class are serious about safety and harm reduction and preventing violence and preserving civility, then
The initial evaluation of Brendan Nugent says he held delusions of being persecuted and was most likely in a state of psychosis.
they’re actually just calling for better support for mental health care
wow
Brendan Nugent’s mental health assessment.
This is heartbreaking for me to read.
kii said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
today yous all discovered that online hate speech only started this month
A Launceston software engineer has created a web program that monitors and records harmful public online comments, after his partner federal MP Jess Teesdale was subject to vile online comments. Called Clarify, the program collects information through comments left on popular social media channels and collects evidence to report threats to police.
oh sorry we mistook, we meant to say it’s been around since wide access to online spaces, just practically nobody cared to do anything about it until politicians experienced it as a direct threat
MPs across the political spectrum are calling for better online behaviour following the attack on independent MP Helen Haines.
wait wait wait so
An early prison assessment of the man who police allege deliberately rammed federal MP Helen Haines has found no indication of extremism.
it turns out that if our great dear beloved politician leadership class are serious about safety and harm reduction and preventing violence and preserving civility, then
The initial evaluation of Brendan Nugent says he held delusions of being persecuted and was most likely in a state of psychosis.
they’re actually just calling for better support for mental health care
wow
Brendan Nugent’s mental health assessment.
This is heartbreaking for me to read.
disagree
this is good news
all those resources they promised to pour into preventing these tragedies
we would love to see them keep their promise and pour resources into preventing these tragedies
we love it when politicians set their hearts on doing the right things for their communities
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
SCIENCE said:
wait wait wait so
An early prison assessment of the man who police allege deliberately rammed federal MP Helen Haines has found no indication of extremism.
it turns out that if our great dear beloved politician leadership class are serious about safety and harm reduction and preventing violence and preserving civility, then
The initial evaluation of Brendan Nugent says he held delusions of being persecuted and was most likely in a state of psychosis.
they’re actually just calling for better support for mental health care
wow
Brendan Nugent’s mental health assessment.
This is heartbreaking for me to read.
disagree
this is good news
all those resources they promised to pour into preventing these tragedies
we would love to see them keep their promise and pour resources into preventing these tragedies
we love it when politicians set their hearts on doing the right things for their communities
Well…my sister was failed by a lack of resources in the Northern Rivers area in 2006. She had schizophrenia and was paranoid etc. So much of that assessment echoes what she went through. That’s what is heartbreaking, nothing changes.
Sticking to your guns even when you made a shit decision is not a sign of a good leader.
I know Sean Black’s wife and can confirm that he’s a real piece of putrid shit.
Spiny Norman said:
Sticking to your guns even when you made a shit decision is not a sign of a good leader.I know Sean Black’s wife and can confirm that he’s a real piece of putrid shit.
FMD!
Australian government plans ban on residential data centres amid growing community backlash
Plans for data centres in residential areas could soon be on the backburner as the government mulls new rules for the AI plants.
Data centres would be banned from being built in residential areas in Australia amid growing community opposition to the online infrastructure plants, under a new plan.
The federal government was working on new rules for the development of the warehouses that host artificial intelligence (AI) models set to be released before the end of 2026, according to the Australian Financial Review.
It comes after news.com.au revealed on Thursday a nationally representative survey of more than 2000 Australians by News Australia found 56 per cent believe data centres are necessary infrastructure, but 61 per cent are concerned about them being built locally.
2000 seems like a small sample size, but if it keeps them out in the sticks that sounds good to me.
Spiny Norman said:
Australian government plans ban on residential data centres amid growing community backlash
Plans for data centres in residential areas could soon be on the backburner as the government mulls new rules for the AI plants.Data centres would be banned from being built in residential areas in Australia amid growing community opposition to the online infrastructure plants, under a new plan.
The federal government was working on new rules for the development of the warehouses that host artificial intelligence (AI) models set to be released before the end of 2026, according to the Australian Financial Review.
It comes after news.com.au revealed on Thursday a nationally representative survey of more than 2000 Australians by News Australia found 56 per cent believe data centres are necessary infrastructure, but 61 per cent are concerned about them being built locally.
2000 seems like a small sample size, but if it keeps them out in the sticks that sounds good to me.
Oi, I’m out in the sticks. You can keep them in the cities thanks. :)
Kingy said:
Spiny Norman said:
Australian government plans ban on residential data centres amid growing community backlash
Plans for data centres in residential areas could soon be on the backburner as the government mulls new rules for the AI plants.Data centres would be banned from being built in residential areas in Australia amid growing community opposition to the online infrastructure plants, under a new plan.
The federal government was working on new rules for the development of the warehouses that host artificial intelligence (AI) models set to be released before the end of 2026, according to the Australian Financial Review.
It comes after news.com.au revealed on Thursday a nationally representative survey of more than 2000 Australians by News Australia found 56 per cent believe data centres are necessary infrastructure, but 61 per cent are concerned about them being built locally.
2000 seems like a small sample size, but if it keeps them out in the sticks that sounds good to me.
Oi, I’m out in the sticks. You can keep them in the cities thanks. :)
Ask a different mob of 2000 people!
Kingy said:
Spiny Norman said:
Australian government plans ban on residential data centres amid growing community backlash
Plans for data centres in residential areas could soon be on the backburner as the government mulls new rules for the AI plants.Data centres would be banned from being built in residential areas in Australia amid growing community opposition to the online infrastructure plants, under a new plan.
The federal government was working on new rules for the development of the warehouses that host artificial intelligence (AI) models set to be released before the end of 2026, according to the Australian Financial Review.
It comes after news.com.au revealed on Thursday a nationally representative survey of more than 2000 Australians by News Australia found 56 per cent believe data centres are necessary infrastructure, but 61 per cent are concerned about them being built locally.
2000 seems like a small sample size, but if it keeps them out in the sticks that sounds good to me.
Oi, I’m out in the sticks. You can keep them in the cities thanks. :)
You’re in a bit of satellite urban sprawl :p
they won’t be built near you.
Spiny Norman said:
Kingy said:
Spiny Norman said:
Australian government plans ban on residential data centres amid growing community backlash
Plans for data centres in residential areas could soon be on the backburner as the government mulls new rules for the AI plants.Data centres would be banned from being built in residential areas in Australia amid growing community opposition to the online infrastructure plants, under a new plan.
The federal government was working on new rules for the development of the warehouses that host artificial intelligence (AI) models set to be released before the end of 2026, according to the Australian Financial Review.
It comes after news.com.au revealed on Thursday a nationally representative survey of more than 2000 Australians by News Australia found 56 per cent believe data centres are necessary infrastructure, but 61 per cent are concerned about them being built locally.
2000 seems like a small sample size, but if it keeps them out in the sticks that sounds good to me.
Oi, I’m out in the sticks. You can keep them in the cities thanks. :)
Ask a different mob of 2000 people!
Recommended Sample Sizes for 27 Million People
Desired Margin of Error…..Responses Needed (at 95% Confidence)……Responses Needed (at 99% Confidence)
±5% (Standard……………………..385………………………………………………………………..666
±3% (High Accuracy…………….1,068……………………………………………………………..1,843
±1% (Very High Precision) 9,599…………………………………………………………….16,560
Kingy said:
Oi, I’m out in the sticks. You can keep them in the cities thanks. :)
Aren’t there some decommissioned oil and gas rigs offshore?
captain_spalding said:
Kingy said:Oi, I’m out in the sticks. You can keep them in the cities thanks. :)
Aren’t there some decommissioned oil and gas rigs offshore?
Not here. We are one of the remotest places on Earth. Perth is the loneliest Capital City.
Kingy said:
captain_spalding said:
Kingy said:Oi, I’m out in the sticks. You can keep them in the cities thanks. :)
Aren’t there some decommissioned oil and gas rigs offshore?
Not here. We are one of the remotest places on Earth. Perth is the loneliest Capital City.
Yeah, but do you have to have ‘local’ data centres?
Couldn’t they install them on rigs in Bass Strait, or the Nortwest Shelf?
captain_spalding said:
Kingy said:
captain_spalding said:Aren’t there some decommissioned oil and gas rigs offshore?
Not here. We are one of the remotest places on Earth. Perth is the loneliest Capital City.
Yeah, but do you have to have ‘local’ data centres?
Couldn’t they install them on rigs in Bass Strait, or the Nortwest Shelf?
Data Centres? I feel lucky if I drive the truck up a hill, hold the phone in the air while standing on the roof, to see if I can get a signal at all.
Oh, here’s 12 missed calls, 7 emails, and 14 text messages.
Yeah, whatever, maybe tomorrow.
Kingy said:
captain_spalding said:
Kingy said:Not here. We are one of the remotest places on Earth. Perth is the loneliest Capital City.
Yeah, but do you have to have ‘local’ data centres?
Couldn’t they install them on rigs in Bass Strait, or the Nortwest Shelf?
Data Centres? I feel lucky if I drive the truck up a hill, hold the phone in the air while standing on the roof, to see if I can get a signal at all.
Oh, here’s 12 missed calls, 7 emails, and 14 text messages.
Yeah, whatever, maybe tomorrow.
Probably people trying to tell you that you’ve won the lottery.
Mark Latham served with bankruptcy notice at Randwick Racecourse
Mark Latham left Randwick Racecourse with, potentially, a huge loss – after he was sensationally served with a bankruptcy notice for the more than $170,000 he owes in court-ordered damages.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/mark-latham-served-with-bankruptcy-notice-at-randwick-racecourse/news-story/759d6118e9286bc17fa776ccec097cd0
dv said:
Mark Latham served with bankruptcy notice at Randwick Racecourse
Mark Latham left Randwick Racecourse with, potentially, a huge loss – after he was sensationally served with a bankruptcy notice for the more than $170,000 he owes in court-ordered damages.https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/mark-latham-served-with-bankruptcy-notice-at-randwick-racecourse/news-story/759d6118e9286bc17fa776ccec097cd0
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bloke.
roughbarked said:
Oh dear, has that spokesperson ever listened to Pauline?
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Oh dear, has that spokesperson ever listened to Pauline?
Well, he/she is clearly poorly informed.
It’s not ‘our’ party.
It’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
roughbarked said:
Is he a contestant in an Oswald Moseley look-alike contest?
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Oh dear, has that spokesperson ever listened to Pauline?
Well, he/she is clearly poorly informed.
It’s not ‘our’ party.
It’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
what did they say
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Is he a contestant in an Oswald Moseley look-alike contest?
… pretty sure that’s the point …
roughbarked said:
Oswald Mosely look-a-like. Kinda.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Is he a contestant in an Oswald Moseley look-alike contest?
LOL, snap-a-doodle.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Oh dear, has that spokesperson ever listened to Pauline?
Well, he/she is clearly poorly informed.
It’s not ‘our’ party.
It’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
That’s one down. ……. how many to go?
ChrispenEvan said:
roughbarked said:
Oswald Mosely look-a-like. Kinda.
NHOH.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Oh dear, has that spokesperson ever listened to Pauline?
Well, he/she is clearly poorly informed.
It’s not ‘our’ party.
It’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
So, what did he actually say, and about whom?
party_pants said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Oh dear, has that spokesperson ever listened to Pauline?
Well, he/she is clearly poorly informed.
It’s not ‘our’ party.
It’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
So, what did he actually say, and about whom?
Woodie said:
ChrispenEvan said:
roughbarked said:
Oswald Mosely look-a-like. Kinda.
NHOH.
Me neither. So I looked him up. And it’s not really a look-alike.
Michael V said:
Woodie said:
ChrispenEvan said:Oswald Mosely look-a-like. Kinda.
NHOH.
Me neither. So I looked him up. And it’s not really a look-alike.
Well, we never suggested that he’d win the look-alike contest.
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
Woodie said:NHOH.
Me neither. So I looked him up. And it’s not really a look-alike.
Well, we never suggested that he’d win the look-alike contest.
The story goes that Charlie Chaplin once came third in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. Probably apocryphal, but an amusing thought.
party_pants said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:Me neither. So I looked him up. And it’s not really a look-alike.
Well, we never suggested that he’d win the look-alike contest.
The story goes that Charlie Chaplin once came third in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. Probably apocryphal, but an amusing thought.
Also Dolly Parton did not win a drag look like contest either.
party_pants said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:Me neither. So I looked him up. And it’s not really a look-alike.
Well, we never suggested that he’d win the look-alike contest.
The story goes that Charlie Chaplin once came third in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. Probably apocryphal, but an amusing thought.
:)
party_pants said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Oh dear, has that spokesperson ever listened to Pauline?
Well, he/she is clearly poorly informed.
It’s not ‘our’ party.
It’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
So, what did he actually say, and about whom?
we disagree
The average household bears no responsibility for the wars, oil crisis and AI boom that are driving up inflation, but that doesn’t save them from the economic pain.
obviously never heard of the tyranny of small decisions
we mean for example among other things does the average household contain people who vote in elections
Maybe it’s just me but Coalition pollies, particularly Matt Canavan seem to be far more sensible of late. I wonder if they’ve given up on the inflammatory off the cuff click-bait comments in the fear that they’ll be compared unfavourably with the RWNJs in One Nation.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Maybe it’s just me but Coalition pollies, particularly Matt Canavan seem to be far more sensible of late. I wonder if they’ve given up on the inflammatory off the cuff click-bait comments in the fear that they’ll be compared unfavourably with the RWNJs in One Nation.
It’s easy to look sensible wihen the people to the right of you look like raving loonies
Witty Rejoinder said:
Maybe it’s just me but Coalition pollies, particularly Matt Canavan seem to be far more sensible of late. I wonder if they’ve given up on the inflammatory off the cuff click-bait comments in the fear that they’ll be compared unfavourably with the RWNJs in One Nation.
(I know, this was mid afternoon, but I’m reading back a bit)
It’s not just you. But also, they have stopped being all shouty. And histrionic. But that stopped as soon as ScoMo was gone.
buffy said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Maybe it’s just me but Coalition pollies, particularly Matt Canavan seem to be far more sensible of late. I wonder if they’ve given up on the inflammatory off the cuff click-bait comments in the fear that they’ll be compared unfavourably with the RWNJs in One Nation.(I know, this was mid afternoon, but I’m reading back a bit)
It’s not just you. But also, they have stopped being all shouty. And histrionic. But that stopped as soon as ScoMo was gone.
ScoMo was a bit of a fan of Trump’s Politics of Distraction.
This relevation really pisses me off!
…
City to Tullamarine in 18 minutes: The zero-cost airport rail plan the government killed off
Chip Le Grand
November 3, 2026 — 5:00am
A proposal to build and operate a private rail line from the city to Melbourne Airport at no cost to the public purse was rejected by the Andrews government despite being backed by Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM).
The 2015 plan was for a purpose-built, direct, fast-speed railway through Maribyrnong which would have offered baggage check-in at Southern Cross Station and 18-minute trips to Tullamarine.
A fully developed blueprint, put forward by a private consortium involving MTM and financial services giant IOOF, was never considered by cabinet. Instead, the idea was killed off by senior government representatives who made it clear that any future Melbourne Airport Rail Link (MARL) had to go through Sunshine.
The revelation follows allegations before the Big Build royal commission that doctored cost estimates were included in MARL planning to bake in Sunshine as the preferred route. It raises further questions about the integrity of Premier Ben Carroll’s priority project, which the Coalition is also committed to building along the Sunshine route.
The proposed private railway, which would have been completed years ago had it been green-lit by the state and federal governments, was dependent on an associated land deal where the consortium would be given development rights to create a new residential suburb at a disused defence site.
The Maribyrnong Defence Site, 127.8 hectares of riverside land just 10 kilometres from the CBD and previously used as a munitions factory, has been abandoned for 20 years.
An open market tender to select a developer closed 18 months ago, but a result has not been publicly announced. The future of the site is complicated by the expense of remediation work required to make it safe for residential development.
Two sources aware of the MTM-led proposal for airport rail, but not authorised to publicly discuss it, said the route would have loosely followed the Maribyrnong route for the MARL and included a stop beneath Highpoint shopping centre and the new suburb.
“It would have cost the government nothing, it would have been done well and truly, and it would have been a bespoke, modern, dedicated, beautiful solution,” one source said.
Sunshine stoush could set back Melton trains by a decade, Labor says
“They wanted something different and that was all.”
A second source said the sticking point was the Andrews’ government’s insistence that the airport rail link needed to follow the alternative Sunshine route to provide easier access for people travelling from Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo.
“I could understand their logic to want to use Sunshine as a transport hub,” they said. “The trouble is it is no faster than the SkyBus.”
The government’s current plan for the MARL, which would run on designated tracks from the airport to Sunshine and access the city through the Metro Tunnel, promises travel times of 29 minutes from Melbourne Airport to Town Hall station.
Respected rail experts, such as Rail Futures Institute and former V/Line executive John Hearsch, fear the project as designed would stymie a long-standing promise to provide greater frequency of commuter services to and from Melbourne’s western suburbs. “The basic laws of physics just don’t stand up,” he said on Monday.
Three years after the MTM-backed plan was rejected by the government, a second consortium involving its parent company, Metro Trains Australia; IFM Investors; Melbourne Airport; and Southern Cross Station publicly launched a separate market-led proposal to build and operate the airport link along the government’s preferred Sunshine route.
Under the proposal, dubbed AirRail Melbourne, IFM investors – owned by Australia’s largest industry super funds – would have stumped up $5 billion in cash to match money already pledged for the project by the state and federal governments.
The project would have bored twin tunnels between Southern Cross and West Footscray station. This would have cut travel times from the city to the airport to 20 minutes, created more capacity for commuter trains from Melbourne’s west and also opened up the possibility of genuine, fast rail services to Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat.
The AirRail plan, like the MTM-led proposal, was for the line to provide a standalone service, with tailored trains for people travelling with suitcases, and baggage check-in at Southern Cross Station.
Had this proposal been accepted, services would already be running to the airport. The plan was considered at cabinet level but eventually rejected on the eve of the pandemic after then treasurer Tim Pallas formed a view that the tunnels would be too expensive to build.
A source with knowledge of the proposal, but unauthorised to discuss it publicly, said the consortium was flummoxed by the decision.
Hearsch believes that delays and additional costs associated with another market-led proposal, the West Gate Tunnel road project, had made the government wary of entering into another public-private partnership.
A former cabinet colleague of Daniel Andrews said the then-premier was less interested in airport rail than championing the case for another major project, the Suburban Rail Loop.
Planning experts and engineers who advised on the MARL project have made submissions to the Big Build royal commission, which the authors provided to The Age, questioning the integrity of the planning process and the politicisation of major projects in Victoria, including an alleged political bias towards the Sunshine route.
State Opposition Leader Jess Wilson on Monday urged the commission to fully investigate allegations that former premier Jacinta Allan coerced a senior public servant to back her government’s preferred route for the project.
Allan has denied the allegation. She is expected to be called as a witness by the royal commission.
Wilson said that if a Coalition government is elected, the airport rail would continue as designed. “The route is the route,” she said.
Carroll has declined to answer questions from The Age about the allegations before the royal commission, saying he had personally established the inquiry with broad terms of reference and would not pre-empt its work.
The decision to run the airport line through Sunshine – a concept strongly supported by Allan when she was the responsible minister – has created a Gordian knot of metro, regional, freight and airport services which, according to government estimates, would cost $4.1 billion to untangle.
There is no published business case for the proposed works to build a “Sunshine Superhub”. The business case for the MARL has a provisional cost of $11.5 billion, unchanged since 2021 before construction costs were boosted by five years of labour shortages, supply chain disruptions for materials and persisting high inflation.
The state and federal governments have so far pledged $12 million for the MARL.
In October 2018, in the lead-up to that year’s state election, Andrews promised to electrify passenger services to Melton and Wyndham Vale and provide “additional tracks between Sunshine and the CBD to run extra services, most likely through a new rail tunnel which would also be utilised by airport-bound trains”.
References to a new rail tunnel were deleted from published government material shortly before the AirRail proposal was rejected.
The MARL business case instead assumes its trains will run through the Metro Tunnel but makes no provision for the extra passenger services from Melton and Wyndham Vale, once they are electrified, that will also need to use the tunnel. The Melbourne Metro, according to its own business case, will reach capacity in 2031 without any airport trains.
An experienced railway project and operations manager has told the Big Build royal commission in a confidential submission that the proposed works at Sunshine would not increase the capacity of the rail system from the western suburbs into the city, which is limited between West Footscray and the CBD to two regional and two metropolitan tracks.
He believes that to make room for the MARL, the government will eventually have to build a tunnel from Sunshine to the city at an additional, exorbitant cost to the project.
Meanwhile, the MARL looms as an impediment to improved commuter services to some of the fastest growing areas in Melbourne. “It is taking capacity away from transport hungry western suburbs,” the railway project manager said.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/city-to-tullamarine-in-18-minutes-the-zero-cost-airport-rail-plan-the-government-killed-off-20261103-p61acj.html
Bubblecar said:
Mark Latham’s ex Nathalie Matthews found guilty of recording intimate images
She’s got fake tit’s.
Peak Warming Man said:
Bubblecar said:
Mark Latham’s ex Nathalie Matthews found guilty of recording intimate images
She’s got fake tit’s.
What do they own?
another day
SCIENCE said:
another day
I can tell you, when executives of a health service say that there was no damage done, you can pretty much bet that there bloody well was.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/11/02/jillian-segal-report-antisemitism-free-speech-abc-sbs-ihra-definition/
Independent experts commissioned by the United Nations declared on October 26 that Israeli forces in the West Bank were committing torture, rape and crimes against humanity, even as the genocide in Gaza continued. That’s the background against which Jillian Segal, Anthony Albanese’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, has released her new report, which proposes extensive state-backed measures to deter criticisms of Israel.
Ostensibly, the report lays out priorities to combat antisemitism. Yet Segal pays only the most cursory attention to the rapid growth of the far right, even as genuine neo-Nazis like Thomas Sewell and his White Australia friends reach audiences (online and IRL) unthinkable even a decade ago. She pledges instead to combat what she calls “modern”, “progressive” antisemitism, which, she claims, manifests “through the language of social justice and human rights”.
To that end, Segal wants, among other things, a special ombudsman to monitor the ABC and SBS; new codes of conduct for cultural organisations; restrictions on the use of grants for arts, sports or research; the operationalisation in higher education of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s definition of antisemitism; a review of the school curriculum; and “continual review and reform by … governments of gaps in the legislative framework”.
All this is warranted, she says, because “the language of human rights and its greatest crimes — apartheid, ethnic cleansing, genocide, etc. — has increasingly been appropriated” against Israel. On that basis, Segal seeks the institutional adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, explaining that “criticism of the Israeli government” should only be considered legitimate if “the level and standard of scrutiny applied is equivalent to the standards to which one would hold other governments in similar circumstances”.
There is a roll call of experts accusing Tel Aviv of genocide: a partial list includes Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, Genocide Watch, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, the Middle East Studies Association, Oxfam, Médecins Sans Frontières, Physicians for Human Rights Israel and the International Association of Genocide Scholars.
In the name of Segal’s vaunted equivalency, we might expect to find Israel listed alongside the other regimes Australia currently sanctions for human rights violations (beyond individual ones directed at Ben-Gvir and Smotrich). You’ll be shocked to learn that this is not what Segal seeks. The scrutiny she considers appropriate was demonstrated back in 2023, when Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong had the temerity to suggest Israel might “cease the attacking of hospitals”.
In response, Segal, then president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, cosigned a statement condemning Wong’s remarks that said they “only serve to demonise the state of Israel and its supporters”. The same logic dominates her report. Segal argues that claims Israel has committed genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid “allow for the depiction of anyone who associates or aligns with Israel as complicit in its purported evil”. But when confronted by genocide, most of us do not worry that our condemnations might upset those who “associate or align” with the perpetrators.
In Segal’s report — a document in which the word “Gaza” appears only once — the feelings of Israel’s supporters take precedence over all else. For her, “the Palestinian cause” represents a “gateway issue, of sorts … used by far-left activists to magnify their appeal and prominence and to attempt to introduce traditionally moderate Australians to radical and anti-Jewish propaganda”.
It’s crazy, conspiratorial stuff.
The report warns that “references to “Zionists” can function as a proxy for Jews, particularly where Jews in Australia are treated as collectively responsible for the actions of Israel (acts of conflation)”. That’s certainly true, which is why organisations like the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) make the distinction between Judaism (a religion and ethnic identity) and Zionism, urging the recognition of “the political and religious diversity of the Australian Jewish community”.
Segal does the opposite. Instead of echoing that distinction, she insists that “Jewish identity is inherently linked to the land of Israel central to the existence of Jewish people, the Jewish religion and culture”. This is not an accident. The JCA notes that the “conflation of Jewish identity with Israel” is something that “the State of Israel and its supporters have long cultivated”, with, notoriously, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming to speak not just “as the prime minister of Israel but as a representative of the entire Jewish people”.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia illustrated how this plays out in practice. Protest leader Josh Lees — the epitome, one would think, of the modern progressivism identified in Segal’s report — publicly rejected any association between Herzog and Judaism. “Isaac Herzog is a politician,” he said. “He does not represent Jewish people any more than the heads of the Saudi or Iranian regimes represent Muslim people.”
By contrast, Anthony Albanese defended Herzog’s tour by insisting that “when the Jewish community asked for their head of state to visit, I think it is appropriate that people be allowed to mourn and to do so respectfully”. Albanese’s antisemitic conflation (their head of state!) went almost unnoticed — because, of course, it was made in defence of Israel.
The same might be said about Segal’s report. As the JCA’s Sarah Schwartz says, Jillian Segal wants the Australian government to enforce “a particular political understanding of Jewish identity” — in explicit opposition to the “many Australian Jews reject the suggestion that our Jewish identities are inseparable from Zionism or the actions of the Israeli state”.
The Gaza atrocities have dealt the global liberal order a blow from which it may never recover, undermining long-established conventions on human rights, international law and the conduct of war. Not surprisingly, some 79% of Australian respondents to a recent survey hold an unfavourable view of Israel. Now Segal seeks government backing to suppress that sentiment, quell opposition to genocide, and buttress institutional support for an apartheid regime.
With free speech and democratic rights receding everywhere, it’s hard to overstate the danger of Segal’s Trumpian scheme.
dv said:
Ostensibly, the report lays out priorities to combat antisemitism. Yet Segal pays only the most cursory attention to the rapid growth of the far right, even as genuine neo-Nazis like Thomas Sewell and his White Australia friends reach audiences (online and IRL) unthinkable even a decade ago. She pledges instead to combat what she calls “modern”, “progressive” antisemitism, which, she claims, manifests “through the language of social justice and human rights”.
article refers much to free speech but we find the above part rather more concerning
Several corrections to previous reporting are made in the article.
apparently safe to drink tapwater
SCIENCE said:
apparently safe to drink tapwater
It’s safe to drink any liquid.
It’s what it does to you after you drink it that causes concern.
buffy said:
diddly-squat said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Maybe it’s just me but Coalition pollies, particularly Matt Canavan seem to be far more sensible of late. I wonder if they’ve given up on the inflammatory off the cuff click-bait comments in the fear that they’ll be compared unfavourably with the RWNJs in One Nation.
It’s easy to look sensible wihen the people to the right of you look like raving loonies
(I know, this was mid afternoon, but I’m reading back a bit)
It’s not just you. But also, they have stopped being all shouty. And histrionic. But that stopped as soon as ScoMo was gone.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-11-06/michelle-grattan-are-nationals-on-life-support/107352856
dv said:
https://www.givesendgo.com/stand-with-lauren
Something is messed up when you can get paid just for being racist
thankfully misogyny is protected speech
Wholesale power prices could nearly double by 2029
Wholesale energy prices could almost double in Australia by 2029 as the shuttering of coal-fired power stations outpaces renewable energy builds.
New modelling from research firm Rystad Energy shows electricity prices could surge up to $110 per megawatt hour from the current $60MWh, with the number of large-scale wind and solar farms needing to triple over the next two years for the Albanese government to hit its 82 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.
First reported by The Australian, Rystad senior analyst David Dixon said the Capacity Investment Scheme – which underwrites large-scale renewables projects – is failing to meet its goal of pumping 40 gigawatts of new capacity into the national grid by decade’s end.
Well, shit.
I hope our solar gear can keep on top of that.
Qld corruption watchdog backs near total ban on political donations
The head of Queensland’s anti-corruption agency has backed a near total ban on political donations, just months after a major relaxation of the state’s election funding.
Crime and Corruption Commission chair Bruce Barbour, appearing at a regular parliamentary hearing, made the comments amid MPs’ partisan questions about risks to the political process.
“I think the South Australian model, where elections are publicly funded and the system does not support donations for the purpose of elections … is something that is very interesting, and certainly worth consideration more broadly than South Australia,” Barbour said on Tuesday.
“I think whether it is unions, whether it is property developers, whether it is any other interest group or individual who has particular interests – paying substantial amounts of money automatically creates a perception that the purpose of those payments is to achieve some sort of access, which is not available to people who do not pay that money, and I think that’s a risk.”
The South Australian Labor government’s ban on electoral donations and gifts to registered political parties, MPs and candidates – passed two years ago and in place for the state’s election in March – also imposes election spending caps but allows limited donations for new candidates.
But some, including The Australia Institute, have criticised the public election funding push for being rushed and unfairly favouring the established major parties.
Spiny Norman said:
Qld corruption watchdog backs near total ban on political donationsThe head of Queensland’s anti-corruption agency has backed a near total ban on political donations, just months after a major relaxation of the state’s election funding.
Crime and Corruption Commission chair Bruce Barbour, appearing at a regular parliamentary hearing, made the comments amid MPs’ partisan questions about risks to the political process.
“I think the South Australian model, where elections are publicly funded and the system does not support donations for the purpose of elections … is something that is very interesting, and certainly worth consideration more broadly than South Australia,” Barbour said on Tuesday.
“I think whether it is unions, whether it is property developers, whether it is any other interest group or individual who has particular interests – paying substantial amounts of money automatically creates a perception that the purpose of those payments is to achieve some sort of access, which is not available to people who do not pay that money, and I think that’s a risk.”
The South Australian Labor government’s ban on electoral donations and gifts to registered political parties, MPs and candidates – passed two years ago and in place for the state’s election in March – also imposes election spending caps but allows limited donations for new candidates.
But some, including The Australia Institute, have criticised the public election funding push for being rushed and unfairly favouring the established major parties.
Surely the purpose of political donations from organised groups is a bribe
I imagine most voters would think this.
Cymek said:
Spiny Norman said:
Qld corruption watchdog backs near total ban on political donationsThe head of Queensland’s anti-corruption agency has backed a near total ban on political donations, just months after a major relaxation of the state’s election funding.
Crime and Corruption Commission chair Bruce Barbour, appearing at a regular parliamentary hearing, made the comments amid MPs’ partisan questions about risks to the political process.
“I think the South Australian model, where elections are publicly funded and the system does not support donations for the purpose of elections … is something that is very interesting, and certainly worth consideration more broadly than South Australia,” Barbour said on Tuesday.
“I think whether it is unions, whether it is property developers, whether it is any other interest group or individual who has particular interests – paying substantial amounts of money automatically creates a perception that the purpose of those payments is to achieve some sort of access, which is not available to people who do not pay that money, and I think that’s a risk.”
The South Australian Labor government’s ban on electoral donations and gifts to registered political parties, MPs and candidates – passed two years ago and in place for the state’s election in March – also imposes election spending caps but allows limited donations for new candidates.
But some, including The Australia Institute, have criticised the public election funding push for being rushed and unfairly favouring the established major parties.
Surely the purpose of political donations from organised groups is a bribe
I imagine most voters would think this.
I am happy enough for individual voters to make personal donations, based upon their firmly held convictions. Environmentalist, for example, should allowed to donate to the Green Party to get some policy implemented that they both care about.
my rule would be that only individuals enrolled to vote in that jurisdiction should be allowed to make donations. No companies or other incorporated bodies.
This of course rules out trade unions and employer associations, so it has Buckley’s chance of getting implemented.
party_pants said:
Cymek said:
Spiny Norman said:
Qld corruption watchdog backs near total ban on political donationsThe head of Queensland’s anti-corruption agency has backed a near total ban on political donations, just months after a major relaxation of the state’s election funding.
Crime and Corruption Commission chair Bruce Barbour, appearing at a regular parliamentary hearing, made the comments amid MPs’ partisan questions about risks to the political process.
“I think the South Australian model, where elections are publicly funded and the system does not support donations for the purpose of elections … is something that is very interesting, and certainly worth consideration more broadly than South Australia,” Barbour said on Tuesday.
“I think whether it is unions, whether it is property developers, whether it is any other interest group or individual who has particular interests – paying substantial amounts of money automatically creates a perception that the purpose of those payments is to achieve some sort of access, which is not available to people who do not pay that money, and I think that’s a risk.”
The South Australian Labor government’s ban on electoral donations and gifts to registered political parties, MPs and candidates – passed two years ago and in place for the state’s election in March – also imposes election spending caps but allows limited donations for new candidates.
But some, including The Australia Institute, have criticised the public election funding push for being rushed and unfairly favouring the established major parties.
Surely the purpose of political donations from organised groups is a bribe
I imagine most voters would think this.
I am happy enough for individual voters to make personal donations, based upon their firmly held convictions. Environmentalist, for example, should allowed to donate to the Green Party to get some policy implemented that they both care about.
my rule would be that only individuals enrolled to vote in that jurisdiction should be allowed to make donations. No companies or other incorporated bodies.
This of course rules out trade unions and employer associations, so it has Buckley’s chance of getting implemented.
If unions and business groups, or any organisation were banned from giving money directly to political parties which they then use to find advertising etc, the banned entities would just spend their own money on political ads advocating for candidates and/or parties so it wouldn’t really achieve much.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Cymek said:Surely the purpose of political donations from organised groups is a bribe
I imagine most voters would think this.
I am happy enough for individual voters to make personal donations, based upon their firmly held convictions. Environmentalist, for example, should allowed to donate to the Green Party to get some policy implemented that they both care about.
my rule would be that only individuals enrolled to vote in that jurisdiction should be allowed to make donations. No companies or other incorporated bodies.
This of course rules out trade unions and employer associations, so it has Buckley’s chance of getting implemented.
If unions and business groups, or any organisation were banned from giving money directly to political parties which they then use to find advertising etc, the banned entities would just spend their own money on political ads advocating for candidates and/or parties so it wouldn’t really achieve much.
You could have all sorts of fun with making rules and regulations about that. Disclosure requirements, black-out periods, non-specific endorsement of particular candidates or parties.. etc.
But I do wonder if an advertisement by an employer group or union with their “Authorised by …” spiel at the end would have the same impact as an ad directly from a party or candidate.
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:I am happy enough for individual voters to make personal donations, based upon their firmly held convictions. Environmentalist, for example, should allowed to donate to the Green Party to get some policy implemented that they both care about.
my rule would be that only individuals enrolled to vote in that jurisdiction should be allowed to make donations. No companies or other incorporated bodies.
This of course rules out trade unions and employer associations, so it has Buckley’s chance of getting implemented.
If unions and business groups, or any organisation were banned from giving money directly to political parties which they then use to find advertising etc, the banned entities would just spend their own money on political ads advocating for candidates and/or parties so it wouldn’t really achieve much.
You could have all sorts of fun with making rules and regulations about that. Disclosure requirements, black-out periods, non-specific endorsement of particular candidates or parties.. etc.
But I do wonder if an advertisement by an employer group or union with their “Authorised by …” spiel at the end would have the same impact as an ad directly from a party or candidate.
The notoriously bolshie Firefighter union in Victoria has ran ads at the last few state elections when even the Socialist Left dominated state government wasn’t meeting their whims. I don’t know if they achieved much but it probably made them happy for the effort.
good news
ChrispenEvan said:
good news
That’s all well and good until they try to kick you out of your home again.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Cymek said:Surely the purpose of political donations from organised groups is a bribe
I imagine most voters would think this.
I am happy enough for individual voters to make personal donations, based upon their firmly held convictions. Environmentalist, for example, should allowed to donate to the Green Party to get some policy implemented that they both care about.
my rule would be that only individuals enrolled to vote in that jurisdiction should be allowed to make donations. No companies or other incorporated bodies.
This of course rules out trade unions and employer associations, so it has Buckley’s chance of getting implemented.
If unions and business groups, or any organisation were banned from giving money directly to political parties which they then use to find advertising etc, the banned entities would just spend their own money on political ads advocating for candidates and/or parties so it wouldn’t really achieve much.
That is the push/pull argument.
The ones with the money(1%) bribe donate to their political party, so that their political party has enough money to plaster ads all over social media in the hope that they will get a government that reduces taxes on the rich. Hello Gina & Donald.
The ones without money(99%) just hope that their fairly elected candidate will help their constituents with medicare, sick pay, family leave, union rights, fair work, holiday pay, equality, and all that stupid stuff that poor people claim that they want, but severely reduces a billionaires new yacht payments.
Kingy said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:I am happy enough for individual voters to make personal donations, based upon their firmly held convictions. Environmentalist, for example, should allowed to donate to the Green Party to get some policy implemented that they both care about.
my rule would be that only individuals enrolled to vote in that jurisdiction should be allowed to make donations. No companies or other incorporated bodies.
This of course rules out trade unions and employer associations, so it has Buckley’s chance of getting implemented.
If unions and business groups, or any organisation were banned from giving money directly to political parties which they then use to find advertising etc, the banned entities would just spend their own money on political ads advocating for candidates and/or parties so it wouldn’t really achieve much.
That is the push/pull argument.
The ones with the money(1%)
bribedonate to their political party, so that their political party has enough money to plaster ads all over social media in the hope that they will get a government that reduces taxes on the rich. Hello Gina & Donald.The ones without money(99%) just hope that their fairly elected candidate will help their constituents with medicare, sick pay, family leave, union rights, fair work, holiday pay, equality, and all that stupid stuff that poor people claim that they want, but severely reduces a billionaires new yacht payments.
worked well for the black and yellow dude
Cymek said:
Spiny Norman said:
Qld corruption watchdog backs near total ban on political donationsThe head of Queensland’s anti-corruption agency has backed a near total ban on political donations, just months after a major relaxation of the state’s election funding.
Crime and Corruption Commission chair Bruce Barbour, appearing at a regular parliamentary hearing, made the comments amid MPs’ partisan questions about risks to the political process.
“I think the South Australian model, where elections are publicly funded and the system does not support donations for the purpose of elections … is something that is very interesting, and certainly worth consideration more broadly than South Australia,” Barbour said on Tuesday.
“I think whether it is unions, whether it is property developers, whether it is any other interest group or individual who has particular interests – paying substantial amounts of money automatically creates a perception that the purpose of those payments is to achieve some sort of access, which is not available to people who do not pay that money, and I think that’s a risk.”
The South Australian Labor government’s ban on electoral donations and gifts to registered political parties, MPs and candidates – passed two years ago and in place for the state’s election in March – also imposes election spending caps but allows limited donations for new candidates.
But some, including The Australia Institute, have criticised the public election funding push for being rushed and unfairly favouring the established major parties.
Surely the purpose of political donations from organised groups is a bribe
I imagine most voters would think this.
are you kidding, which other team sports require all the players to begin with equal amounts of financial support
what
“We’re not talking about high dining here — most people expect an egg at breakfast as normal, and it’s not acceptable that it’s now seen as a luxury,” she said.
daphqu ¿ We mean sure they aren’t aussie kids any more but can’t they just have wheat biscuits with a bowl of milk
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-11-11/bupa-aged-care-cooked-breakfast-charge-helf-program/107352108
Speaking of polirical donations.. 
The mystery of One Nation’s missing first aircraft has been solved: the plane was sold to a private pilot and is now locked in a hangar in far-western New South Wales, an ABC investigation has confirmed.
One Nation’s national director James Ashby has indicated he received the proceeds from the sale of the plane.
The discovery of the Jabiru 230D, tail number 24-8637, at Broken Hill, about 1,000km west of Sydney, is likely to trigger more questions for the party about the handling of proceeds from the sale of the aircraft.
In September, One Nation declined to answer questions from the Sydney Morning Herald about the location of the plane and if it had been sold.
Yesterday, when the ABC contacted Mr Ashby via text to ask how the plane ended up in Broken Hill, he confirmed he had sold it to a NSW pilot.
He also said he had phoned Victorian businessman Bill McNee, who gave him the money to buy the plane, to seek his permission for the sale.
roughbarked said:
Speaking of polirical donations..The mystery of One Nation’s missing first aircraft has been solved: the plane was sold to a private pilot and is now locked in a hangar in far-western New South Wales, an ABC investigation has confirmed.
One Nation’s national director James Ashby has indicated he received the proceeds from the sale of the plane.
The discovery of the Jabiru 230D, tail number 24-8637, at Broken Hill, about 1,000km west of Sydney, is likely to trigger more questions for the party about the handling of proceeds from the sale of the aircraft.
In September, One Nation declined to answer questions from the Sydney Morning Herald about the location of the plane and if it had been sold.
Yesterday, when the ABC contacted Mr Ashby via text to ask how the plane ended up in Broken Hill, he confirmed he had sold it to a NSW pilot.
He also said he had phoned Victorian businessman Bill McNee, who gave him the money to buy the plane, to seek his permission for the sale.
Oops there is a link
we mean we thought that was literally
The opposition and property groups have blamed the figures on the negative gearing and capital gains tax changes. Liberal housing spokesperson Andrew Bragg said the deterioration showed confidence in the market had tanked and argued, “Loans to everyone are down. No-one wins from these crazy taxes.” But Housing Minister Clare O’Neil welcomed the fact that homebuyers fared better than investors in the data, saying this was what the tax changes were meant to achieve. “Volumes are down, as you would expect in a period where prices are softening. But these figures also clearly show a strong shift away from investors and towards Australians buying a home to live in,” she said.
the point, so we guess they really are the expert economic managers after all
if you say it 3 times then it’s true right
SCIENCE said:
if you say it 3 times then it’s true right
Their lead has narrowed over the last couple of months.
On these numbers if an election were held tomorrow Labor would be in a minority govt needing help from Greens and Teals, the Geals if you will.
OTOH the election is still 18 months off so it is not exactly panic stations
dv said:
SCIENCE said:if you say it 3 times then it’s true right
Their lead has narrowed over the last couple of months.
On these numbers if an election were held tomorrow Labor would be in a minority govt needing help from Greens and Teals, the Geals if you will.
OTOH the election is still 18 months off so it is not exactly panic stations
Still plenty of time for one party or another to shoot themselves in the foot.
We just can’t predict which one will do it first, or worst.
