Raf Epstein Profile picture
Posts and views are my own. Retweets are not necessarily an endorsement. Host for news & talkback, in Melb for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
hanna hamilton Profile picture 1 subscribed
May 21, 2022 7 tweets 2 min read
🧵on the Morning After

Libs refused to accept that the biggest fault lines in #auspol ran straight thru the middle of their own party room.

The ‘broad church’ did not allow Libs to act. There already was a parl. majority for climate & integrity.
They didn’t act. They lost. Morrison in ‘19 = Howard’s Work Choices in ‘04. They thought they’d changed the country. But they changed & left the big cities behind.

It did not work to paint Teals as chaos. Maybe people did not forget the chaos of 3 PMs, 6 Def Mins, climate policy like the NEG, CET etc.
Aug 24, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
More on @TheDohertyInst modelling of tracing testing etc

They assumed NSW in 2020 was best you can get, and Vic August 2020, is what a struggling system is like. Sensible. But delta changes things.

I'm told best study (China) 3/4 transmission is BEFORE symptoms.. 1/4 So 3/4 trans before contact tracers know.

Assume some leeway, about 90% of transmission is occurring before the tracers come in. Means you need to go contacts of contacts of contacts a la Vic 2021

Works best at 15-20 a day, holds maybe at 20-100, much harder above 100

2/4
Aug 21, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
VAX DEALS 1/5

June - Aug 2020 deals signed by
US, UK, Japan, SKorea, 27 EU nations, China, Switzerland, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Argentina, Mexico

Aug @ScottMorrisonMP Oz is "at the front of the pack" for vax deals

Sept: Oz signs 1st deal-AZ VAX ROLLOUT 2/5

1st dose adults
Progress of rollout
day 100 to day 150

Canada went 26.1 - 61.1 %
SKorea 9.1 - 31.5 %
Japan 6.4 - 32.4 %
Malaysia 7.1 - 29.6%

Aust 1st dose 13.9 - 28.3 %

(source BioPharmaDispatch) Image
Aug 20, 2021 14 tweets 3 min read
NSW our thoughts are with you. VIC, the numbers are worrying. Melb knows what it feels like. Tuff restrictions & no end in sight.

Thoughts and 🧵

Back in 2020, Vic govt made big mistakes. So did State Oppsn pushing for reopening before our 2nd wave. So did media. (1) 100s died here. There was too much "who hired the security guards?" & not enuff "why did the Health Dept fail?"

But DoH did change. Learnt A LOT of lessons.

Many partisan cheer leaders & screeching media who make $$ from division, refused to see that.

That cost us all. (2)
Jul 22, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
Bit of a story? 🧵

20 staffers who work in the Prime Minister’s Office received the Pfizer vaccine in March & April, outside of the process for vaxxing high profile politicians.

They were vaxxed in case of OS travel. Only 10 of them have since been OS.

Read whole 🧵!
1/5
Some govt staff are in 1B, but this was when many vulnerable people didn't know when they'd be jabbed. Only 1/4 aged care staff have now been vaxxed.

Senior PMO staffer called Health Dept.
Vax team came to some staff in Parl house, others vaxxed at ACT govt mass vax hub.
2/5
Mar 3, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
Grace Tame "I cried more than once while writing this, just because I'm been recognised for my story doesn't mean it's fair game anywhere, any time. It doesn't get any easier to tell. I may be strong, but I'm human, just like everyone else."

4/10 Grace Tame "By definition, truths cannot be forced. So grant us the respect & patience to share them on our own terms, rather than barking instructions like 'take us back to your darkest moment', and 'tell us about being raped.'"

5/10
Mar 3, 2021 10 tweets 2 min read
Grace Tame in brief #NPC

"Repairing myself in the aftermath of all this was not a simple, linear undertaking. For every step forward, there were steps back and to the side, and some almost off the edge. I saw counsellor after counsellor."

1/10 Grace Tame "But I also abused drugs, drank, moved overseas, cut myself, threw myself into study, dyed my hair, made amazing friendships, got ugly tattoos, worked for my childhood hero, found myself in violent relationships, practised yoga, even became a yoga teacher."

2/10
Mar 28, 2020 9 tweets 3 min read
Things I learned #COVID

“Coronaviruses have been co-evolving with bats for the entire span of human civilization, and possibly much longer.. turning their little bodies into virus blenders.”

“This process happens without making bats sick—(maybe because) bats fly.” 1/9 All from this excellent article
2/9 by the stellar @carolynkor

google.com.au/amp/s/www.newy…
Jan 10, 2020 12 tweets 4 min read
REALLY LONG THREAD - from me on @abcmelbourne y'day

You can’t say we weren't warned. But if you don't accept the reality of climate science would you accept the warnings?

In 2008, Ross Garnaut was looking at climate change for the Rudd Government. His prediction – based on the science - was eerily accurate. "Fire seasons will start earlier, end later and be more intense. This effect increases over time but should be directly observable by 2020." That was over a decade ago.

webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/2019050908…